Heart of a Trooper
by Sub Ink
Summary: Buck Johnson is a proud Stormtrooper. However, his career as a Trooper changes when he is sent on a mission to apprehend a man who saved him from poverty. When he is forced to choose between his savoir and the Empire, what will he do and what will be the consequences of his choice?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

They finally entered the planet's atmosphere. Buck sat in the small transport cruiser with the rest of his Stormtrooper squadron dressed in white armour. He looked around and his comrades were either checking their weapons or having short nervous conversations. Buck was as quiet as usual but unlike all the other missions he had been in, his silence was not to prepare him for the upcoming battle but it was questioning his part in the upcoming battle.

Their mission was to infiltrate a compound of a mega-million tycoon named Ru' Bik who was believed to be helping and housing rebels. They were to infiltrate and if possible capture or kill all rebels. Buck had no problem with dealing with rebels but he did have a problem with attacking Ru' Bik in any way. The man is a kind being. He is well-known as a philanthropist; he scoured the Core Worlds and even some of the Outer rim planets helping people from poverty. Buck knew this very well for he was one of the many people that Ru' Bik had helped. He helped to raise him out of extreme poverty and helped educate him. It could easily be said that Ru' Bik had saved his life and now he was one of the people tasked with not only destroying his home but also arresting him.

There suddenly was a loud bang. Buck looked out of the small carrier window. The green skies of Raline were littered with Stormtrooper carriers and laser fire from the planet surface, which he guessed probably came from the compound. One of the carriers was hit and a part of it burst into orange flames before it plummeted to the ground. Buck looked at his companion who was sitting beside him and had also seen what he had just witnessed.

"Don't worry. Those rebel scum won't take _us_ down that easily." He said through the white helmet.

He nodded to his friend. He did not need to see his face to know him. Corporal Canoe, Buck's long time friend. They both entered the service of the Empire as rookies at the same time and both survived many missions together and on the way became good friends. In the whole squadron he trusted no one more than Canoe.

The carrier dropped in altitude and for the first time Buck saw the compound. When Buck heard the word compound he expected to see a mansion with a few informal settlements but instead he was treated to a hexagonal skyscraper multiple stories high.

"Hard to believe one person could own that." Buck said to no one in particular.

"Tell me about it. Even if we worked for a 100 years we still would not make half the money it took to build that!" Canoe said. "No matter, soon we'll infiltrate it and if any of it is still standing when we're done, it will belong to the Empire."

"That's right men!" Their commander said. "We hit this place quickly and with precision. Shoot first take prisoners later! A building that big will probably have a small army of rebels; luckily for us we have a big army of Stormtroopers. And remember if any of you encounter Ru' Bik, take him alive. The Emperor wants him to pay for his crimes after a public trial!"

Buck involuntarily gulped. They wanted to make an example out of Ru' Bik.

"Get ready—" The commander said as the carrier stopped and hovered in the middle of the skyscraper, a few feet away from a window. "Now!" He said when the carrier doors opened. One of the troopers threw a spherical bomb which blew a sizable whole through the building. The Stormtroopers jumped out of the carrier and into the building.

As soon as all the members of the squadron were safely in the building the Commander began leading the way. The squadron cleared each room they came across, ensuring that there were no rebels. They moved through the corridors two men wide and in a straight line. Canoe and Buck were side by side in the middle of the group. All around them they heard explosions and people screaming. The battle seemed to be raging on all around them except for the place they were currently at.

While moving forward Buck thought he saw something whizz beneath his feet. Canoe was in the process of checking a room when it happened. Someone shouted, "bomb!" and Buck was barely able to shove Canoe and himself into a room before the explosion went off. There was a blinding light of yellow fire that engulfed the corridor. The two Stormtroopers were barely able to escape as the forced of the explosion propelled them deeper into the room and sent them crashing onto the floor.

Buck did not know how long he had been out but he came too to Canoe shaking him awake.

"Buck! Buck! You okay?"

Buck got up and held his blaster. "Yes."

"You sure? You saved me and risked yourself. Don't do anything that stupid again!" Canoe scolded.

"Yeah yeah." Buck said before leading the way out of the room. He was surprised by the carnage that awaited them. The bomb had ravaged most of their squadron. Those who were closest to the bomb had pieces of their bodies scattered while others simply lay lifeless. The Commander was still alive and did a quick inventory check of his men, there were only six of them left.

"Okay men, we continue our mission. We'll meet up with the other Stormtrooper squadrons for back up!" He said before leading them onwards. The squadron saw a group of people moving along. When the Commander ordered them to stop they opened fire on the party. One of the Troopers fell to the laser fire while the rest scrambled to get cover. There were approximately three people firing at them while the others continued to flee. They were able to take down one in retaliation for their fallen comrade.

"These guys are just stalling us! Buck, Canoe, cut the other group off. I don't want any of them escaping!"

Buck and Canoe found an alternative route while the rest of the squadron covered them. They moved through the corridors to cut them off and stop their group. When they crossed paths with them Canoe fired at them which prompted one of their members to fire back but Buck was able to quickly take the shooter down and also take a few of his companions too. By the end of the skirmish the other group was dead while Buck and Canoe were the only ones left alive. Buck approached the mass of multi-coloured dead bodies. He noticed that only one of the bodies had a blaster.

"Most of these people were unarmed." Buck said.

"Focus Buck! We're in a conflict zone. Collateral damage is normal." Canoe said before activating the communicator on his forearm. "Commander, we were successful in cutting off the rest of the group. They're all dead though."

"Good work soldiers!" Buck heard the Commander say. "Stay together and clear that area while moving west. We'll meet at the West wing of the building."

"Roger that!" Canoe said before ending the transmission. "Looks like the fun continues." Canoe said before moving off and Buck following closely behind.

They were moving deeper into the mega building. The lights began flickering on and off which was easily noticeable deep into the building. They encountered a few Rebels but through team work were able to shoot them down, even when they were outnumbered four to two. Their training and understanding of each other gave them an edge over the disorganised rebels.

"I think we're off course" Buck said after some time. "We should have met up with the Commander and the rest of the squadron by now."

"Yeah, we're definitely lost. I say we split up." Canoe said before stopping at a section of the hallway that forked.

"How's that going to help us?"

"We'll be able to clear more of the area and we'll meet up at the front, closing any enemy we encounter in a pincer movement."

"That would be a great plan, if there weren't only two of us!" Buck complained.

"Come on! We'd still able to cover each other's backs by using our communicators…" Canoe said holding up his forearm to gesture the communicator built in the armour. "So if any of us gets in trouble, the other will be able to help."

Buck did not like the plan but if it meant that they could meet up with their squadron sooner, then it would have to do. "Okay, stay alert." He said before they both fist bumped and split up.

/

Buck moved along the corridor with great speed. He was taking in any corners, any unusual movements in order to determine if there was any danger. As he moved through he heard a sound down an adjacent corridor. He looked at it knowing that going down it would delay his meet up with his friend. He thought about moving on but his sense of duty as a Stormtrooper compelled him to investigate. He checked the rooms he came across to find them empty until an assailant suddenly appeared at a room ahead of him.

He was able to dive to the side in time to doge the blaster fire from the new combatant and returned a volley of shots of his own. He got the Rebel in the neck killing him instantly. He moved forward to where the body lay. It was a young dead Twi' lik. He carefully stepped into the room from which the dead Rebel had come and saw Ru' Bik. The Vultan man, in a maroon robe with gold trimmings and gold robe, looked just as surprised to see the Trooper. Buck saw something moving from the corner of his eye and quickly turned to shoot it down. He saw a body fall and Ru' Bik scream: "No!"

Buck looked down and noticed that he had just shot down a Vultan female, most likely Ru' Bik's wife. He took off his helmet; revealing his dark brown skin and lips, hazel eyes and black hair; and bent down next to the female Vultan while her still living husband ran to her. Ru' Bik took his wife's lifeless hand in his own.

"You… you killed her!" He said with tears in his eyes.

"It… it was an acccide… I… I didn't mean to." Buck said while uselessly checking for any, even the smallest signs of life. However he knew that she was dead, he had just killed the wife of the man who has shown nothing but kindness to him.

"Liar!" Ru' Bik said before lunging at him.

Thanks to his Stormtrooper training, Buck was easily able to fend off Ru' Bik's clumsy attack. He was able to push him back onto the ground. Ru' Bik slowly got up while the Stormtrooper kept his blaster trained on him. Buck had a lot of adrenaline running through him.

"Why did you make me do this?" Buck shouted.

"How did I make you do this? Huh?" Ru' Bik shouted back, struggling to keep from crying.

"You became a Rebel sympathizer!" Buck said. "You were a good man! Why would you betray the Empire?"

"Because the Empire does things like this…" Ru Bik says as he gestures to his wife's body.

Buck looked at the body and his guilt welled up at the sight of his handy work. "I'm… I'm sorry."

Ru' Bik was taken aback by the unexpected apology. Who was this Stormtrooper? The sound of a baby crying filled the room. Buck looked over to the far side of the room. In the scuffle he had not noticed the baby in the room. He guessed that the baby's cry was what he had heard, that lead him to this corridor and that it most likely belonged to Ru' Bik.

Ru' Bik looked at the Stormtrooper in hope. "If you truly are sorry, you'll help me and my daughter escape."

"What? I… I can't do that!"

"Then you may as well kill me now…" Ru' Bik said as he began walking towards the soldier. "…because if the Empire get me and my daughter they'll use her to get all the information I have on the Rebels."

"What information? All you did was house them in this compound." Buck said.

"No," Ru' Bik said shaking his head. "I am even more deeply involved with the Rebels than you know."

Ru' Bik had been continually moving forward. Buck raised his weapon higher. "Hey, don't take another step!"

Ru' Bik ignored the warning and continued to walk forward. "If you truly are sorry then you must make a choice: help me and my daughter escape…" Ru' Bik was now close enough to grab Buck's blaster and place its barrel onto his chest, "…or kill me."

Buck was having an internal argument with himself on what he should do. His trigger finger, for the first time after he killed Ru' Bik's wife, went to the blasters trigger. He was preparing to shoot Ru Bik, a man he looked up to. A man that had helped so many people living in poverty that he did not even remember the Trooper standing before him with a blaster pointed at his chest. He realised that he could not kill him.

"Even if… even if I help you, you would not be able to escape. Stormtroopers have covered the streets and there is heavy trooper presence in the spaceship hanger."

Ru' Bik's eyes began to shine with hope. "There is secret ship hanger in the compound that I built for me and my family in situations… such as this. I also have family on the planet Cirasso. They will hide me and my daughter."

Buck was quiet for a moment. He did not believe that he was even considering this. "Get your daughter and follow closely behind me." Buck said before putting his helmet back on.

Ru' Bik quickly took his daughter. He began following the trooper. He picked up the bag, with all the things his baby daughter would need, that lay beside his wife's body. He stopped for a moment to look at her. Was he betraying her and her memory by working with the man who killed her? This question ran through his mind. No, his wife would have wanted him to do whatever it took to ensure their daughter's safety, he thought to himself before he ran out of the room.

/

Buck and Ru' Bik were entering a busier section of the compound. There were many more Stormtrooper squadrons in this section. By using his communicator to eavesdrop and decode their messages and with Ru' Bik's guidance, Buck was able to avoid meeting with any of them. Suddenly Canoe appeared out of a corridor.

"Buck, that you? Of course it is, no one else has those dents in their armour." Canoe looked behind him and saw a Vultan male holding a baby. "You caught Ru' Bik!" Canoe said walking closer to his friend. "Well done, let me call it…"

"No!" Buck said pointing his blaster at Canoe. This had been a very bad and turbulent day for Buck. First he had killed his saviour's wife and now he was pointing his blaster at his dearest friend.

"What's going on?" Canoe said raising his hands in surprise.

"I'm not turning him in."

"What? Why? Did he buy you?"

"No! You… you wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Canoe said before suddenly throwing a round house kick which caught Buck's blaster and knocked it away from him. Using the element of surprise Canoe tackled his friend down and used magna-cuffs to handcuff Buck's wrist to a pipe that was near the floor.

The move was so quick that Buck did not notice that he had been cuffed. He only realised when he tried to get up but was pulled back down by his restraints. Buck realised that his friend had used his own cuffs to bind him. He had forgotten how fast his friend was, he had forgotten that his friend was a former pickpocket.

"I don't know what's going on with you but you'll thank me when you come back to your senses." Canoe said before pointing his blaster at Canoe. "Ru' Bik, you are under arrest for conspiring to overthrow the Empire and for housing wanted fugitives."

"Please… I… I have my baby." Ru' Bik said.

"Then you better put it down if you don't want it to get hurt." Canoe said coming closer to his target.

While Ru Bik placed his daughter on the floor, Buck tried to escape. He used his strength to desperately twist the metal pipe he was bound to in order to dislocate it from the wall. The pipe began to quietly moan as he twisted it and finally was able to displace it. After he freed himself he charged at his friend who had his back turned and used all his strength and momentum to hit him at the back of the head with the pipe he had recently been cuffed to. Canoe was stunned and fell face forward into the ground causing the baby next to him to cry.

Buck could hear a Stormtrooper squadron coming up their way from the adjacent corridor via his communicator. "Let's go!" He said.

"I can't." Ru Bik said lying on his butt on the floor. He raised his arm and noticed that Canoe's arm also rose. Canoe had cuffed Ru' Bik to him! Grinding his teeth and swearing, Buck dived at his friend's body looking for the keys to the magna-cuffs before the Stormtrooper squadron was upon them.

"Trooper, you need to take my daughter to safety! Take her Cirasso, look for the Bik family and they'll help you."

"I… I…" Buck did not know what to say. A part of him was still hoping that he could still keep all of this secret; a part of him still hoped that he could help Ru' Bik escape and still keep his job as Stormtrooper. But if he takes his daughter and delivers her himself, there will be no returning to the service of the Empire as a Stormtrooper or anything else for that matter. It would be difficult to explain his sudden disappearance from the battlefield and reappearance days later. If he did this he would kiss his career as a Stormtrooper goodbye.

"Please, Trooper." Ru Bik begged over the sound of the incoming troops marching steps and radio communications.

Canoe had begun to stir again and Buck quietly swore again and took the baby and Canoe's blaster before running off. Canoe came to just as the Stormtrooper squadron appeared.

"Corporal Canoe! You've caught Ru' Bik." The Commander who had joined another squadron said.

Canoe looked at the Vultan then looked around for Buck who was no longer there. "Yes… I… I guess I did."

/

Buck ran as quickly as he could. He knew he was close to the hanger but was stopped in his tracks when two human Rebels appeared in his path. One was a female who had skin as dark as his, long braided purple hair and hazel eyes and wore a green outfit. Her companion had lighter skin and neck length black hair and startling green eyes. They were both young, probably close to the end of their teenage years.

The young woman pointed the blaster at Buck. "Is that Ru' Bik's and Si Bik's baby? What have you done to them?"

"Ru' Bik has been captured. He gave me his daughter to deliver to safety."

"Ru' Bik gave a Stormtrooper, whose here to arrest him and destroy his home, his baby? What kind of fools do you take us for?" The young man shouted before he raised a white and silver cylindrical device that was in both hands. Suddenly a green laser blade sprang from the device. Just after, below the base of the green blade of light was a green halo made of the same energy and colour as the blade.

Buck had heard of such weapons. They were relics of an old order of people. "Wait, you're a Jedi!"

The man began running at him with his blade held up. Buck was inexperienced in dealing with Jedi. He shot at the charging man and was amazed when the young man used his lightsaber to deflect his shot away. Buck could not believe what he had just seen. He had never seen or even heard of anyone fast enough to deflect a blaster shot. The man was now upon him and swung the blade at him. Buck, and the baby he held in one arm, was able to narrowly escape the blade by jumping back. The man summersaulted over Buck and landed some distance behind him. Buck moved away from the man as quickly as possible. If the man had landed closer he could have easily have struck Buck down.

The man pointed his lightsaber which he now held in one hand at Buck. "Give up the baby! You're surrounded."

Buck looked around and saw that the man was right. On one side there was the woman with her blaster pointed at him and on the other side was the young man with the lightsaber. "Listen, all I'm trying to do is protect this baby."

"You expect us to believe that." The man said.

"Well… yes, considering that I'm not the one pointing a blaster or swinging a laser sword at the man who has a baby in his hands!" Buck said looking at both of them.

"I guess he has a point." The dark skinned female said.

"No he doesn't… does he?" The man with the lightsaber said.

The compound alarm immediately went off. Buck looked above him. "Listen, the Troopers have begun the lockdown procedure of this compound. We need to escape while we still have the chance. Let's escape first and then finish this later. I have knowledge of Ru Bik's secret ship that we can use."

The young man with the lightsaber sighed before sheathing the green blade. "Fine, lead the way, Trooper."

Buck nodded and began running. He saw the woman raise her blaster but ignored it as he ran past her. He ran ahead while the two Rebels flanked behind him. They came across Stormtroopers which the woman shot down while the boy activated his lightsaber and cut down the rest. It felt strange to Buck to see his comrades being killed and he doing nothing to defend them.

Buck reached their destination but it was a dead end.

"Huh, you lead us to a dead end. I should have known." The man said.

"No! No! Ru' Bik said it would be here!" Buck said desperately feeling around the wall with one hand for something.

"Maybe we could double back," the woman said. "Try to get to the spaceship hanger."

The man shook his head. "There'll probably be too many soldiers there for us to take on."

A section of the wall that Buck pressed collapsed and the wall began to slide open in either direction, revealing a ship. The three ran into the ship and fired it up. A section of the compound also slid open giving way to the ship to make its escape. The ship started up its engine and flew off. It escaped the planet's atmosphere and Buck saw the ship that brought the carriers and the Stormtroopers to this planet. This was not how he thought he would leave the planet when he entered it. The ship entered hyperspace and disappeared on its way to Cirasso.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The ship was flying through the cold empty space. Buck was impressed at how fast it was. Ru' Bik really had good taste in ships. He sat at the command deck looking out into the black void outside of the marvel of technology.

"So I guess we better deal with… whatever this is." The woman said, snapping Buck back to his current situation. He currently had the Vultan baby of Ru' Bik in his white armoured hands and was heading to Cirasso with two Rebels he knew nothing about.

"Yes," he said. "…we should."

"May I take the baby?" The woman said opening her arms invitingly.

"Oh! Of course." Buck said before carefully handing over the little bundle in his hands over to the woman. She disappeared somewhere in the ship.

"So, where can we drop you off?" The man with long black hair and green eyes asked.

Although it was invisible behind the white helmet, Buck raised an eyebrow to the question. "You're not dropping me off anywhere. I showed you where the ship was, so I'm going to drop you guys at Cirasso and take the ship."

The man was leaning against a control panel of the ship but suddenly stood to full height. "This ship does not belong to you, Trooper. It is by right ours considering we are Rebels and need it more."

Buck did not like the challenging tone of the young man and he lowered his voice to match it. "The fact that you're Rebels means that this ship is not yours, boy. I need it more. I risked my career to save that baby, Ru' Bik told me where to find the ship for the purpose of using it and therefore it belongs to me."

"No 'plastic man' is going to take this ship from us and frankly I'd like to see you try to take on the both of us."

Tensions were rising in the room. Buck's hand was preparing to use his blaster which was in his holster while the other man's hand was preparing to pull out his lightsaber. The room was quiet but you could cut the tension with a knife. Both had been in many combat situations and knew that there was a good chance that one of them would die. Suddenly the woman walked in without the baby and the men involuntarily calmed down a little.

"Whoa! Why do I feel like I just disturbed something?" She said.

"Just a little break down in negotiations. I was telling the Trooper here how this ship is ours because we need it more and we outnumber him." The man said.

"Well that makes sense." She said.

"I gave up everything I hold dear to save that baby. All I have now is this ship." Buck retaliated

"Zack and I don't necessarily have much either." The woman said. "How about this: as soon as we land on Cirasso we'll sell this ship and anything in it that neither of us don't want and we'll split whatever we make three ways."

"Three ways? That would mean that you two get more than me."

"Well... yes, if you add what we get together but remember Zack and I are two separate beings. We're not connected at the hip so I should get my share and he should get his." She said.

Buck thought about it for a moment and finally relented. He knew he was being played but it was the most peaceful resolution to their problem. "Okay."

"So what do we call you? Or is Trooper your real name?" The man said.

Buck took off his helmet, revealing for the first time his dark toned face to his new ship mates. "My name is Buck Johnson."

"Buck Johnson? Meh! If I were you I'd stick with Trooper." The man said.

"What are your names?" Buck inquired.

"Heh, like we'd tell an Empire stooge our names." The man said.

Buck smiled, "okay, you don't have to tell me your name, _Zack._ " Buck said having caught Zack's name when the woman used it in conversation and he saw that it annoyed the man that he knew his name.

"Well you might as well know my name. I'm Lona." The woman said. "Let's try not to kill each other before we get to Cirasso, okay?" She said before leaving the room.

Zack and Buck looked at each other. Neither trusted the other and if need be they would be willing to end the other's life… if need be.

/

It was a day after the attack on Ru' Bik's compound. The rich Vultan was now in custody and many Rebels in the compound were either dead or captured for execution. An inquisitor was sent to the morgue by her superior, the Grand Inquisitor, to inspect some of the bodies of the Stormtroopers who fell during the skirmish.

Inquisitor Saza Ripper looked at the bodies in annoyance. She knew that there was something that she was supposed to see but she did not know what. Most people would not be able to handle the sight and amount of dead bodies but it did not affect her. She had seen and made her own gruesome corpses. She pulled back the sheet that covered one of the dead bodies and saw a peculiar wound on the soldier. His wounds were not common blaster wounds. She saw the same kind of wounds on five bodies after and guessed that she had seen whatever the Grand Inquisitor wanted her to see. She exited the morgue and went to find him.

She saw him speaking to some of the Imperial Generals. His back was turned to her so she could see his black armour, the circular lightsaber that rested at his back and his bald chalk white head. When he was dismissed she approached him.

"Grand Inquisitor, I have my report ready." She said slightly bowing her head.

The Inquisitor looked at her. "Walk with me."

Saza Ripper walked side by side with The Inquisitor while she gave her report. "Most of the Stormtroopers died by common blaster fire but some have wounds resembling lightsaber cuts. I assume that they were killed by a Jedi."

The Inquisitor smiled, revealing his jagged, white teeth which were whiter than his pale-white face. "A Jedi or a Force-sensitive with a lightsaber. Your mission is to convert or eliminate this individual."

Saza bowed slightly, "As you wish, Grand Inquisitor."

/

The spaceship arrived at a space port on Cirasso in the town of Tanik. Zack looked at Buck in his white armour. "Don't tell me you're going to wear that, Helmethead. You'll give us away."

Buck looked at his uniform. He had actually slept in it because he had no other clothes. "I don't have anything else."

"You can use one of Ru' Bik's clothes." Lona said.

Buck agreed and to the back of the spaceship. When he re-emerged into the control room he wore a maroon robe with silver trimmings, that was small for him as evidence in the way it ended just above his knees, exposing his dark skinned, harry legs. He was greeted by laughter from both Zack and Lona.

"Why didn't you wear a robe that fit you?" Zack said between laughter.

Buck was getting visibly annoyed with the two laughing at him. "This was the biggest one!"

Lona tried to stifle her laughter and it came out as giggles. "Fine… fine, it will have to do."

They got out of the ship and entered the town of Takin with Lona carrying the baby and covering her with a purple silk to protect her form the harsh sun.

Tanik was a bustling market and busy town. Although it was not as lavish as some of the core world cities and towns, it was impressive with fine buildings and great facilities. The rich and middle class lived in close proximity to each other and the poor were few and far between.

Buck, Zack and Lona walked through the town trying to find the Bik family. Someone finally pointed them in the right direction and they ended up in front of a two story building. Zack knocked on the door and seconds later it was opened by a teenage Vultan.

"Hello. Is this the Bik's family residence." Zack asked.

"Yes." The boy said looking over at a strangely dressed Buck and Lona who had a baby in her arms. He looked back at Zack, "I'll call my father."

The boy disappeared and moments later an older version of him came to the door. "Can I help you?" The father asked.

"We were sent by Ru' Bik." Zack said.

The Vultan man looked at the humans. "Please, come in." He said giving them space so that they could enter.

The three humans entered the house and were lead to the living room area, where they sat down. The boy who had initially answered the door waited besides them, quietly waiting for his father. The father walked in. "You said my brother sent you?"

"Yes, he said you would protect and take care of his daughter." Buck said gesturing to the baby that Lona was cradling.

The Vulatn looked at Buck's attire and crinkled his nose in disgust. "Why would he send his daughter to me to protect? Has something happened to him?" The Vultan said gently taking the baby from Lona.

The room grew quiet and Buck was the one to break the silence. "He was arrested for… helping Rebels."

"No, impossible! Ru' Bik would never… why have we not heard anything about this." The elder Vultan asked.

"The Empire may want to keep it quiet so as not to warn any Rebels that your brother has helped." Zack offered.

"Are you Rebels?" The Vultan teenager suddenly said.

"Don't speak such things! My family will not deal with Rebels. We are loyal to the Empire and its Emperor!" The father scolded his son.

An uneasy glance passed between Lona and Zack. "Do not worry, Mr. Bik, you can trust us. We are no friends to the Empire." Zack said.

"And speaking of which, is there any way we can contact the Rebels…" Lona said.

"No… no! I will not be as foolish as my brother. I will not tolerate this kind of talk in my home. Thank you for delivering my niece but I no longer want any of you in my house." The Vultan got up. "You will show yourselves out. Son, come!"

The Vultans began to leave the room prompting the three shipmates to also leave the house. Zack turned to the Vultan who was heading upstairs, "regardless of what you think of the Rebels, if you want to protect your niece, I suggest you don't tell the authorities that she is your brother's child." Zack said before he left. The three humans were once again outside, albeit without Ru' Bik's child.

"Well, that's a smart man." Buck remarked.

"Hmf! I beg to differ." Zack said under his breath.

Lona lightly elbowed Zack and gestured for him to look behind him. Zack looked behind and saw the Vulcan, Bik teenager peeking from behind the wall. Zack looked at Buck who was walking a little ahead.

"The kid may know something but I don't trust Buck." Zack said quietly.

"Then talk to him alone. I'll go with Buck to sell the ship. You know, keep him busy." Lona said.

"Leave you alone... with him?" Zack whispered.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself." Lona said pulling her jacket back slightly to reveal her blaster.

Buck stopped and turned around to face the two. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Nothing. I have things of my own to do on this planet. You and Lona can go and sell the ship. I'll meet up with you guys later."

Buck looked at the two suspiciously. "Okay."

Lona and Zack nodded to each other before the group went their separate ways. As soon as Zack was sure that Buck and Lona were out of sight he walked to the hiding Vulcan teen.

"Hey, I need to speak to the Rebels. You know of any way I can contact them?" Zack asked.

"I knew you guys are Rebels." The Vultan excitedly whispered. "There's a bar called Ground Haven. Apparently a Rebel called Kisto frequents the place."

Zack nodded, "thank you."

/

Buck and Lona walked along back to the ship where they would meet a prospective buyer. The walk had been mostly in silence until Lona decided to talk.

"May I ask you a question, Buck?"

"Sounds like your question is going to be intrusive. You can ask your question on the condition that I ask on of mine after."

" do you feel obligated to help Ru' Bik?"

"In my youth I lived on a poor planet. Our planet's ancestors had practically stripped it clean. It was barren, we could not plant crops for the soil was dead from centuries of mis-use, we could not mine any precious minerals for all the mines lay barren. All we could do was starve to death; that is until Ru' Bik came. He had a terraforming machine which brought our soils back to life in our region of the planet. He gave us food while we recovered our own food stocks and he ensured that all children were educated. Without him I doubt I would have survived my teenage years. He saved me. He saved my people."

"It must have been very hard to arrest him."

"Yeah, turned out it was too hard because I didn't even go through with it." Buck said. "Now I get to ask you a question."

"Yes, but I can't promise that I'll answer." Lona said.

"What? No fair I answered your question." Buck complained.

"I only asked for permission to ask a question, I did not say you _had_ to answer it."

Buck sighed. "You Rebel-types are tricky. Fine, did you know that Zack was a Jedi when you met him?" Buck asked.

"I can't answer your question because it's flawed. Zack is not a Jedi."

Buck was confused by this statement. "But he has a lightsaber. How can he not be a Jedi."

"Huh huhhuh, Buck Johnson, you only had one question." Lona said shaking her finger. "And anyways we've arrived." She sadi as they entered the ship yard. "Hopefully we can get a good deal for the ship."

/

Zack entered the Ground haven bar. It had a lot of unsavoury looking types. He strolled confidently to a bar stool and called out to the bartender. The bartender was an Itochi.

"What can I get you?" A voice came from the seemingly mouth-less creature.

"I'm looking for someone called Kisto. Ever heard of him?" Zack whispered to the being on the other side of the bar.

"I may but it will cost you." The Itochi said.

Zack grumbled as he searched himself for credits. He had very little. He would have to spend all of his and Lona's money. He placed his credits on the bar counter top.

The bartender raked the credits into his palm. "Kind of little."

"Well, it's all I have."

The Itochi grumbled. "Fine, wait here."

Zack waited until a Twi'Lek appeared in front of him. The Twi'Lek was green and tall. He had on simple brown trousers and jacket. He took a bottle from the bars range of beverages and placed two glasses in front of him. He poured a generous amount of the green beverage in the glasses and slid one over to Zack. Zack grabbed the glass and looked at the Twi'Lek who took a big sip out of his own glass. "I heard you were looking for me." The Twi'Lek said.

Zack took a sip out of his own drink and grimaced at the bitter taste. "You're Kitso?"

"In the flesh. What do you want?"

"I need you to deliver a message to the Rebels." Zack said before following Kisto's lead and taking another sip of his drink to look inconspicuous.

"Whoa whoa whoa, your speaking of dangerous and forbidden things, kid. How do I know I can trust you?"

Zack began feeling a little drowsy but he tried to blink it away. "I'm a Rebel."

Kisto giggled before he took another sip. "Can you prove it? For all I know you're an Imperial spy."

Zack began to feel even drowsier. His vision began to blur. He could not see anything in his peripheral vision. "I'm not a spy… hey, I don't feel so good." Zack said when he began struggling to keep his head up.

"Oh! That's probably the tranquilize I spiked our drinks with." Kisto said.

"What? What do you mea—" Zack slurred before his vision went black and he lost consciousness. His head fell hard on the bar counter top and hit the wood with a thud. He was now at the mercy of Kisto.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lona paced up and down. The sun on the planet Cirasso had set a long time. The stars were out and its two moons shone but she could not appreciate its beauty for something was worrying her. Buck walked in on her endless pacing. He recognised that she looked worried but was unsure why. They had safely delivered Ru' Bik's baby and had sold the ship successfully, now all that remained was for the transaction to be complete and as soon as they had the credits they would go their separate ways. She should be happy not worried.

"Hey, are you okay?" Buck asked.

Lona was startled at the sound of Buck's voice, "I'm… No I'm not okay. Zack hasn't returned."

"Is that why this place is so peaceful?" Buck joked but Lona did not laugh nor smile. "Hey, don't worry. His probably drunk somewhere, celebrating the credits his going to get from selling this ship."

The room was quiet for a while. All that could be heard was Lona's nervous steps as she paced up and down the ship deck. "I'm going to look for him." Lona finally said. She took her blaster and strapped the holster around her waist.

Buck sighed, "I'll go with you."

Lona narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. Why would he want to help? She thought to herself. "Okay." They left the ship together to look for Zack.

/

Saza was walking towards a group of out of uniform Stormtroopers. There were three of them talking excitedly about… whatever Stormtroopers talk about outside battle. She stopped some distance away from them.

"Candidate Officer Canoe Ida!" She said in a commanding voice.

The Stormtroopers stood to attention and two of them left leaving Officer Canoe Ida. Canoe had ginger hair and fair skin with freckles on his nose that decreased in number the further away you went form the centre of his nose. His hazel eyes smiled at the woman. "Hello."

"I am Inquisitor Saza Ripper." She said.

"Inquisitor?" Canoe tilted his head to the side as if inspecting the human female. She too had red hair, albeit it was paler than Canoe's and her skin was unblemished with freckles. "You're too pretty to be an Inquisitor."

"I am your superior, Officer Ida and you will address me as such..." She leaned over to him and whispered the next part, "or you're not going to have a tongue to address anyone with."

At the threat Canoe stood straighter to a perfect attention stance. "Yes Sir… I… I mean ma'am!"

Saza narrowed her eyes at him. "Good. I'm here to… Inquire about the storming of Ru' Bik's compound."

"Yes ma'am?"

"There were 16 deaths and 5 injuries and strangely enough, to this day, one Stormtrooper missing in action: Buck Johnson." She informed him.

Canoe involuntarily gulped. "Buck? M.I.A? That guy is probably at home nursing his wounds and has forgotten to report back."

"So you've had contact with him since after the mission?" Saza asked.

Canoe took a moment to answer with a disappointing, "no."

"Apparently you were the last one to have any contact with him. Any guesses what happened to him?"

"No."

"I heard that you are up for a promotion for capturing Ru' Bik." Saza said changing her tone to be a little friendlier.

"Yes. The ceremony is tomorrow. I'm going to be promoted up a rank." Canoe proudly said.

"Any plans on celebrating?"

"Yes. Me and some of the boys are going to have a few drinks." Canoe said. He was confused at the sudden friendliness of Inquisitor Saza. Maybe she was interested in him and was trying to get him to ask her out. Admittedly, he was attracted to her. She was beautiful, slender and was at a high military would look good with her on his shoulder.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your night, Officer." Saza said before walking away.

"Thank you, ma'am." Canoe said disappointed that she did not try to get him to invite her. But something else bothered him, the way she said her last statement was strange, as if she knew something he didn't.

/

Lona and Buck were walking on the dark streets of Tanik. They did not really know where they were going so Buck suggested that they check out all of the bars in the vicinity in hopes of finding Zack. For most of the part they walked quietly accept to confirm whether they had found something or not. That is until, to Buck's surprise, Lona stopped and pointed her blaster at Buck's chest. Buck was taken aback by the act but instinctively reacted by reaching for his own blaster. His hand brushed the area where his blaster should have been but realised that he did not have it with him. He had doubted he would need it and had left it on the ship. Caught without a blaster he did the only thing he could: he placed his hands up in a gesture to show Lona he was not dangerous.

"Lona? What are you doing?" He said uneasily.

"Oh, you think you're so smart don't you, Trooper?" Lona said. "But you're not as smart as you think. I know you have someone tailing us. You're probably leading me to an ambush."

"What? I didn't even know that we were being followed. If we work together, maybe…"

"I don't want to hear your lies." Lona said. "Tell me where Zack is or I'll blow a hole through you."

Buck's heart began to race. He was not sure if she would go through with it. He began to analyse the situation: Lona had a gun pointed straight at his chest. She was close enough to not miss and too far away for Buck to disarm her before she could get a shot out. He could not use brute force to get out of this, so he would need to rely on something else. He needed to calm her down and make her believe that he meant her no harm. "I don't know where Zack is and I don't know who is following us… assuming someone is following us because I did not see anyone."

"Why would I believe you?" Lona said.

"You have no reason to believe me but nonetheless I'm asking you to. I might not know who is following us but if we work together we can ambush them."

Lona thought about it for a moment. "Fine." She said slowly lowering her gun. But I'll do the ambushing."

/

The little Twi'Lek followed the humans from the shadows of the night. It had been a long time since she had seen any humans on Tanik. The only humans she had ever seen were Stormtroopers passing by the planet but these humans looked a little different than the ones she had once seen without their white helmet. They had a darker skin tone.

The humans suddenly stopped and the female one pointed a blaster to the male and they had a conversation. She waited in anticipation to see what would happen. Would the female shoot the male? They spoke for a while then the female lowered her blaster and they began walking together again. She darted from corner to corner, alleyway to alleyway in an effort to keep following the human's without being spotted. She was hoping to get an opportunity to steal something of value form them, something she could sell.

The humans turned a corner and for a few moments were out of her sight. When she could see her targets again she noticed that the female human was gone, nowhere to be seen. The male human continued to walk on like normal and so she continued to follow him. She stopped for a while behind an alleyway and suddenly heard a sound behind her. She turned around just in time to see the female human rushing towards her. She involuntarily yelped as the human female grabbed her arm and pointed her blaster at her.

Buck heard the sound of someone yelping and guessed that Lona was confronting the person who was following them. He ran to the source of the sound to help Lona fight off whoever it was, however when he arrived he found Lona talking to a frightened Twi'Lek girl.

Lona looked at Buck as he arrived. "I've found our little 'tailer'."

The Twi'Lek said something in her native tongue which neither human could understand.

Lona got up. "A little girl like you should not be out at this time of night. Now go home." Lona said softly.

The Twi'Lek girl ran away as fast as she could. Buck looked at Lona with an 'I-told-you-so' smile.

Lona sighed, "alright Buck. You were right. I'm sorry." She said walking out of the alleyway. "Now, let's find Zack."

/

Zack's eyes began to flutter open. For a moment he felt at peace. He felt like he had woken up from a long and restful slumber only to be greeted by a sky full of stars. But then his memory of what had happened before he had lost consciousness came back to him. He had been drugged! He got up from the sandy floor, displacing dust as he did. Before him stood Kisto, the Twi'Lek rebel and on either side of him stood a Vultans. Zack's hand wandered to where his lightsaber usually rested but did not find it.

"Kisto? You drugged me! How? I saw you drink the same drink I had." Zack angrily said.

"Obviously my drink was spiked too." Kisto said. "Of course I have built up a little immunity to the tranquilizer, so I passed out after you and woke up before you. Yes, I drugged you but what did you expect I would do to an Imperial spy?" Kisto said stepping forward and producing a blaster.

Zack put his hands up as he slowly got to his knees. "I'm not an Imperial spy. I'm a Rebel like you."

"Then explain to me how you fell for our trap. Rebels don't go to the Ground Haven bar and ask for me by using my _real_ name." Kisto said. "That's a trap that we set up for spies."

"Okay. Okay. I admit I might not know much about Rebel procedure on this planet but I am a Rebel."

"Yeah righ-" Kisto was saying before Zack suddenly lunged at him.

Zack caught the blaster and it was pointed upwards before a shot went off into the night sky. It was knocked away as they fell on the dusty ground wrestling. The Vultans pointed their guns at the ball of dust made up of a human and Twi'Lek fighters. They were reluctant to shoot, in case they shoot Kisto.

The Twi'Lek and human wrestled on the ground. Zack was able to get on top of Kisto and threw a few punches but it did not last long as Kisto was able to overturn him and place himself on top as he threw his on punches. Zack was able to get him down and they continued to wrestle. They eventually separated and got up. Zack lunged forward leading with a right jab. Kisto put his hands up to protect his face from the onslaught of fists. But he was slowly making his way closer to his attacker and when he was close enough to Zack he grabbed his long black hair and pulled him down as he kneed him in the gut. Ignoring the pain in his abdomen, Zack grabbed Kisto's knee and pushed forward to make him lose balance.

Kisto bounced on his one leg as he struggled to get his other free but eventually he lost his balance and fell but he kept hold of Zack's hair to ensure that his combatant fell with him. Once again they were on the dusty floor. Zack fell with his face in Kisto's stomach and he began to throw a few hammer fists above his head while simultaneously moving his body up to Kisto's face. Zack's hammer fists caught Kisto in the stomach then chest then face as he was constantly moving up. Kisto could not use his hands to block as he still had a firm grasp on Zack's black hair. His knee was still raised in between him and the human. By flexing it and pulling his opponent's hair away from his body, he was able to get Zack off of him.

Zack rolled away on the sandy floor. Both he and Kisto were down on their bellies. Zack rushed to his feet but Kisto was faster and he was able to kick, the still in kneeling position, Zack in the face. Zack rolled away but quickly got to his feet.

Both men stared at each other while breathing heavily. Zack had a swollen and bleeding bottom lip and Kisto's boot print on one side of his face. Kisto's nose was bleeding from Zack's earlier hammer fists. Both men's clothes were dirty thanks to the dusty floor.

Zack was readying himself to go at it again but was stopped when he saw the Vultans approaching him on either side, pointing their blaster's at him. He saw Kisto's cocky smile and hated it. "I came here to help! If you don't want my help then I'm not going to give it!" Zack said angrily before turning to leave.

Zack stopped when he saw the blasters of each Vultans raised higher at his head. "You didn't think we'd just let you leave, did you? You know our identities." Kisto informed him.

Zack knew that his life was in danger and he needed to do something desperate to escape the situation. If only he had his lightsaber he could have easily defended against the blasters but he did not so he'd have to rely on the Force in a different way. He looked at the closest Vultan's blaster and began to concentrate on it, willing it to come to him. He had not done this trick in a long time and was never much good at it. But if he failed it could mean his life. The Vultan's blaster began to shake. Initially, the Vultan wrote it off as his nerves making his hand shake but then the shaking became too much and it felt like there was something pulling his blaster away from him. Suddenly the blaster jumped out of his hand and flew through the air towards Zack. Zack caught the blaster and for a moment fumbled it but he was able to get a good grasp on it and pointed it at Kisto.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to take you with me." Zack said to Kisto.

Kisto laughed, "okay kid. You're a Rebel and we're not going to kill you." Kisto gestured to the other Vultan to lower his weapon.

Even after the other Vultan lowered his weapon Zack was a little weary of Kisto. _This could be a trick,_ Zack thought to himself. But if he wanted to live he had no choice but to trust Kisto. Zack threw the blaster to Kisto who easily caught it. For a terrifying moment Kisto pointed the barrel of the blaster at Zack. It looked like he was going to fire but then he gave Zack a wide smile before tossing the blaster over to its original owner, one of the Vultans.

Kisto walked past Zack, "Come on kid. Say what you have to say while we walk."

Zack jogged to catch up and then matched Kisto's walking pace. "A few days ago Ru' Bik was captured by the Empire. They know he has been helping us... Rebels."

Kisto rubbed his chin. "This is unsettling news. Why haven't they reported this in the news?"

"The Empire is probably trying to keep everything quiet in order to get information out of Ru' Bik and attack the Rebels."

"Ru' Bik has given us many bases where most of the Rebellion is operating from. If he gives up the location of these bases then the Empire could effectively crush the Rebellion. I'll need to warn the Rebels to evacuate all the sites that Ru' Bik has given us or knows about."

Zack thought for a moment about what Kisto said. "Are you not going to try and recue Ru' Bik?"

"We don't have the resources to rescue Ru' Bik. We can't sacrifice soldiers to rescue him. We owe him a lot but I'm afraid he's on his own."

Zack was saddened by the news. Ru' Bik had shown him kindness; he had taken him and Lona into the compound when they could not even afford to feed themselves. He had grown to like the Vultan as he was humble and always eager to help. A genuinely good soul. Zack was forced to just keep quiet and nod.

He remembered that Kisto still had his lighsaber. "Hey, can you return everything you took from me."

Kisto nodded to one of the Vultans who gave him back the cylindrical device and the few credits that were on him when he was drugged.

/

Buck and Lona had failed to find Zack. They checked all the bars and the medical centesr within the vicinity. They could not even report him missing to the planet's authorities because they themselves may be wanted.

Buck looked at Lona. He could tell that she was both worried and sad about the whole situation. He felt sorry for her and wanted to comfort her but she did pull a blaster on him last night so he suspected that he could do very little to comfort her.

Lona felt like she was holding back tears. Zack had gone to find the Rebels stationed on this planet. The fact that he had not come back may mean that he was either dead or captured. She had many regrets. She wished she could have gone with him to watch his back. She had many fears. She feared of being alone again without him. They had been together for so long that it would feel like she was incomplete if she had to carry on without him.

The spaceship deck had grown quiet with her sullen mood. Then they were startled when the doors of the spaceship opened revealing Zack and an magnificent sunrise behind him. Lona's face lit up and she ran to him and hugged him. She felt like she could squeeze the life out of him. Zack was too exhausted to do anything but wait to see if she could actually do it.

When she reluctantly let him go she punched his shoulder. "Why didn't you call?"

"Well, I was fighting for my life." Zack said.

"Is that why you look like hell? But to be honest it's an improvement from how you usually look." Buck said leaning back casually on a wall.

Zack made a face of disgust. "Oh! For a moment I forgot that you even existed. Why are you still around? Haven't we sold the ship yet?"

"Yes we did. We'll finalise everything tomorrow." Lona looked up at the red sky as the sun began to rise on Tanik. "I mean… today."

"So where were you?" Buck asked.

Lona and Zack looked at him suspiciously. "Oh well, might as well tell you. It's not like there's anything you can do now." Zack said. "I made a long distance call to the Rebels and informed them of Ru' Bik's capture."

Buck was surprised to hear that. Questions were racing through his mind but they were questions that would make him look suspicious to the two Rebels. Meaning they would not answer any of them as they lacked trust in him. But to his relief Lona asked the question that was the most forefront of his mind.

"Are they going to try to rescue him?" Loan asked.

Zack looked at her in disappointment and even if he had not quietly shaken his head like he did, she would have known the answer by simply looking into his sad green eyes.

Buck clenched his fists in silent anger. He could not believe that the Rebels would not even attempt to save Ru' Bik. He had given them shelter at the risk of his freedom and life and now that he needed them they would abandon him? _They are a bunch of ungrateful criminals_ , Buck angrily thought to himself. He regretted leaving him there. If he could go back in time… An idea began to form in his head.

"Why don't _we_ save him?" Buck said.

Zack and Lona looked up at the former Stormtrooper. "What?" They simultaneously said.

Buck was more confident this time, "Let's save Ru' Bik!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Let's save Ru' Bik!" Zack repeated. "Are you crazy?!"

"Why not," Buck answered. "I thought you Rebels were fearless."

"We're fearless, not stupid." Zack said. "Ru' Bik is probably in a max security Imperial prison, and that means well armed 'snowmen' and 'clankers'. And there's the other issue…"

"What other issue?" Buck inquired.

"We don't trust you!" Yeah, that other issue."

"I know you don't trust me and to be honest I don't trust you too…" Buck looked at Lona, "…either of you. But I tried to save Ru' Bik while most of you Rebels had cowardly left him and his family to fend for themselves…"

"Hey! We did what we had to do when your _comrades_ attacked both Ru' Bik and the Rebels." Lona protested.

"That still doesn't change the fact that you all left him behind," Buck said. "And you still want to leave him behind, even now."

The room fell quiet after Buck's comment.

Buck sighed. "I owe that Vultan my life. I want to save him."

"And how do we know that this isn't a trap you're setting us for?" Lona said.

Zack smiled at that. "Yes, Trooper! How do we know you're not leading us to Imperial capture?"

"Because you two are not important." Buck got nasty looks from both the Rebels. "I mean in terms of the Rebel cause. You don't have any crippling information on the Rebels; you don't lead any significant Rebel army or group. If I was setting a trap, I would pick bigger targets than you guys… no offense." He completed.

Zack looked at Lona. "What do you think?"

"It's crazy. It's risky. But it will save a good friend and strike a blow against the Empire. Let's do it!" Lona said.

Zack looked at Buck, "You do know that if you do this, you will no longer be a defected Trooper but you'll be a Rebel."

"Then I will carry the despicable title of a Rebel until Ru' Bik is safe." Buck said defiantly.

/

Zack walked into Ground Haven. He went to the Itochi who was serving drinks. He smiled cockily when he noted that the Itochi was surprised to see him… alive. Zack leaned into him and whispered, "I'm looking for Kisto."

The Itochi went away, presumably to call Kisto. Kisto walked behind the counter and just like last time took the same drink for the bar and two glasses and placed them between himself and Zack.

Zack sighed, "Look Kisto, I know I'm doing this wrong but you did not tell me how to do this right."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kisto said as he poured the green liquid in one glass and gently slid it to Zack.

Zack sighed again. He knew that the drink was spiked, Kisto knew that the drink was spiked and yet he was serving it to him still. Zack began to suspect that maybe Kisto liked the tranquilizer. "Can we skip this? I want to talk about Ru' Bik. My crew and I are going to save him."

"You lost me at can we skip this. And my answer to that is no, we cannot skip this. What kind of galaxy do we live in if two strangers can't share and innocent drink?" Kisto said raising his glass.

Zack held back the urge to sigh and raised his own glass before downing it simultaneously with Kisto.

/

Buck and Lona were waiting outside the ship. They were waiting for the person that they had agreed to sell the ship to. They realised that if they were going to rescue Ru' Bik they would need a good quality ship, which this ship was. It was fast and had decent weapons and defences. And for that reason they came to the realisation that they would no longer be selling it, at least for the time being. They saw the Vultan who had agreed to purchase the ship approaching with company.

"Uh, I see you're ready for me. Good!" The Vulatn said. "We can quickly settle matters and go our separate ways."

"I'm afraid things have changed. We'll no longer be selling the ship." Buck said.

The Vultan's smile faded and was replaced by confused frown. "But yesterday you both were so eager…"

"Yes. I am sorry about that." Buck said slightly bowing apologetically. Lona did the same.

"Well you see you've already begun the trading process. You signed the letter of ownership." The Vultan said snapping his fingers. One of the Vultans beside him produced a flat technological device with words on it.

"Yes, but we did not sign any contract binding us to the sale." Lona said.

One of the other Vultans spoke up, "on this planet, singing a letter of ownership is the first step in the trading process and only a few factors can stop it. Factors that neither of you qualify for."

"Well we no longer want to sell." Buck said firmly.

"I'm afraid you have no choice. If you do not I will call the authorities and they will imprison you until you comply with the trading process or give a valid reason for why you cannot." The lead Vultan said.

Buck and Lona looked at each other worryingly. They both knew that they could not go to jail as they would probably never see the day of light again. It seemed like they would lose their ship.

/

Canoe was at a bar with the other Stormtroopers, celebrating his impending promotion in rank. Even though they were out of uniform, everyone at the bar knew that they were Stormtroopers as this bar was mostly frequented by them. Most people at the bar were Troopers or family and friends of them.

Canoe was happy as his friends treated him with a free dinner and drinks. His friends preferred to drink right away but he did not want to start on an empty stomach. The party became loud in time as some off-duty Stormtroopers began to drink too much and began seeking and sometimes harassing anything that was female.

"Hey, Canoe! Tell us how you caught that scum, Ru' Bik!" One of his drunken trooper friends slurred.

The bar erupted in yells of people agreeing.

Canoe was talking to a human girl sitting on his lap. He took a sip of his alcoholic beverage before replying, "I'm busy here boys!" He looked at the woman on his lap. "I don't wanna bore this lovely lady with tales of death."

The bar moaned in disappointment. "I wanna hear the story." The lady on his lap said wrapping her hands around his shoulders.

" !" Canoe said which garnered cheers from the occupants of the bar. Canoe and the lady stood up and he took a sip of his drink for extra courage before he spoke. "I was moving along that big compound. Lights flickered! Explosions were all around me but where I was there was no enemy. All I could feel was the compound slowly shaking, shaking in fear because the Stormtroopers were here!"

The bar erupted in cheers just as Canoe knew they would and he waited until the bar quietened down before he continued. "Yes the compound shook! And the Rebels ran with their tails between their legs!" The bar cheered again and Canoe took a big gulp of his drink before continuing. " I knew all that to be true as I moved down the lonely corridor of the compound. I eventually saw a group of Rebels ahead. They were as surprised to see me as I them but they were slow and dumb and I was able to take one of them down before the other even thought of pointing his blaster. He got a shot off but I jumped out of the way and in mid-air blew his head apart. A cowardly white alien ran for his life seeing how easily I dispatched his companions, his protectors. Try as he might the impish Vultan could not get away from my swift legs and I tackled him down and arrested him only to realise it was the bottom feeder, Ru' Bik!"

The bar cheered at that last part. Someone screamed out merrily, "where was Buck in all of this!"

The bar instantly fell quiet. The comment was ill-thought. Buck had been missing for a few days now and all the Stormtroopers had already guessed that he was dead. For that reason they avoided bringing up Buck in Canoe's presence, knowing how close they were. Canoe was suddenly forced to think of his friend for the hundredth time that day. He had never stopped thinking about him, worrying about him. He was the only one who knew that Buck was not dead. At first he thought that Buck had been bribed by Ru' Bik but when he ran away with his baby he began to suspect that maybe he had defected. It was the only thing that explained why he still ran away with the baby knowing that Ru' Bik would not be free to pay him and that Canoe would never report his treachery to The Empire.

"Is… this Buck a friend of yours." The girl who had previously been on his lap asked.

"Used to be." Canoe said.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" The girl said trying to put her arms around him to comfort him.

Canoe raised his hands and backed away, rejecting her. "Well, I'm afraid that's it for me boys! I have to look good for my promotion which means getting a good night's sleep."

The bar occupants moaned again but wished him a safe journey. When Canoe was out they began to scold the man who had brought up Buck and ruined the party.

/

Canoe walked into the night. The section of the city he was in was quiet except for the transports whizzing by, far above him. As he walked he got a chill up his spine. He felt like there was someone watching him… following him. He would occasionally quickly turn back but there was nothing behind him, nothing to be seen. He began regretting parking his transport so far away from the bar. He reached for his blaster, that was resting under his jacket at his hip, to give himself the confidence that he could defend himself if need be. He turned back again when he thought he saw something move but again there was nothing when he turned back around he saw the outline of a slim figure hidden in the shadows of the alleyway.

Canoe felt his heart racing. "Who's there?" He said gripping the blaster at his hip.

The outline stepped forward to reveal a familiar face.

"Inquisitor Ripper?" Canoe said, relaxing a little but still a bit confused.

"Hello, Canoe." Saza Ripper activated the lightsaber in her hand which made a red blade leap out into the night air. "I hope you enjoyed your last night."

/

Zack began to regain his consciousness. He was resting on a sandy floor once again. He began to get up slowly. "Ah! The sleeping beauty wakes up." He heard someone say. He looked up and saw Kisto and the Vultans waiting for him. "I'm starting to think you like drugging me."

"It is a personal passion." Kisto said smiling.

Zack got up and noticed that he no longer had his lightsaber. It seemed Kisto did not fully trust him yet. He wondered if Kisto "Kisto, me and my crew want to save Ru' Bik."

"From an Imperial maximuim security prison?" Kisto said in surprise.

"Yes!" Zack said.

It began as a quiet laughter from Kisto and then he and his Vultan companions began laughing loudly with no inhibitions. Zack was the only one who was not laughing. He folded his arms as his anger rose. The laughter went on for a little longer.

"Thank you kid! I haven't laughed this much in a long time. You're a true Rebel kid, reckless and stupid." Kisto said as he dug into his robe. He produced a holo-disk and threw it at Zack.

Zack easily caught the disk. "What's this?"

"After you told us about Ru' Bik, I had all the contacts of the Rebellion dig around for more information." Kisto said. "We received word that an important imprisoner was caught and is being transported to a prison, a prison whose blueprints are on that disk in your hands. We believe it may be Ru' Bik."

Zack activated the holo-disk and an image and blueprints of a prison protruded from the disk. He pressed a button and cycled through all the stored images in the holo-disk and also saw a few flight routes. "They haven't transported him yet?" Zack said in surprise.

"Yes... well, hopefully, yes. Good luck Zack. I hope you're able to succeed. Ru' Bik has been loyal and one of the greatest friend The Rebels have had."

/

Buck and Lona waited for Zack to return. They had agreed to meet him in town when he concluded whatever business he had. Buck did not know what this business was because Lona and Zack were still reluctant to share much information with him. Buck understood their secrecy but that did not stop him getting annoyed with it. He too did not completely trust them and things would not change until they kept less secrets from him. He was unsure how this little adventure would go, if they were going to succeed they would need to trust each other more than how they were now.

Zack appeared again. Buck noted the dust on his clothes. His clothes were like this the last time he went missing. He guessed that he had been on the outskirts of Tanik as that was the only significant dusty place in the vicinity.

"Alright. We're ready to go." Zack said with a cocky smile. The smile faded when he saw the anxious look on Lona's face. "What's wrong?"

"We couldn't get out of the sale of the ship." Lona said. "Apparently, since we've initiated the sale we have to go through with it."

"Can't you just talk to the guy?" Zack asked.

"The jerk wants the ship so… no." Lona said. "We have a few hours before his collectors come to take it and give us the credits. We'll have to make a run for it."

Buck was surprised to hear Lona's suggestion. "What! We can't do that."

"Why not." Lona asked.

"If we run away with the ship, we'll get reported and that will draw too much attention to ourselves." Buck reasoned. "Let's just sell this one and purchase another one."

"It doesn't matter if we draw any attention. We'll be far away by the time that happens." Zack said. "And anyways, Boy Scout, we may be wanted so that means that we can't buy anything legally and we won't find a ship that good on the black market."

"If we're going to do this we have two hours before the Collectors come to take the ship." Lona said.

They all began to walk in the direction of the ship yard. While walking, Zack accidently bumped into something small. He lost his balance temporarily but was able to regain it. He looked at what he had bumped into and saw a little Twi'Lek girl. She was thin with orange skin colour and grey eyes.

"Oh. It's you again." Lona said kneeling towards the child with a smile on her face.

"You know this clumsy girl." Zack said annoyed, as he dusted himself off.

"We met her when we were looking for you." Buck said. He noticed how unhealthily thin the Twi'Lek girl was. He must have not noticed the last time because it was too dark to clearly make her out.

The girl muttered something in a tongue neither of them understood. "I… I think she may be hungry." Lona said.

"Yeah, she's as thin as a…" Zack stopped what he was saying. He was disturbed by a feeling... he felt something from the girl or… about the girl. It confused him at first as he had never felt something like that for a long time but then suddenly he realised what it is that he felt. He felt the Force and he felt it in this Twi'Lek child, behaving the same way it did with him and an exceptional few.

The Twi'Lek said something else in her foreign language before running off. They all looked at her as she ran away. Zack looked at her with interest. Lona looked at her with sadness. Buck looked at her with concern. Soon the girl ran out of sight and the group continued on their way.

"I have good news. I think I may have found out where they're taking Ru' Bik." Zack said while on the move. He reached into his pocket for the holo-disk. "The Rebels think… think that…" Zack suddenly stopped as he began furiously searching himself for the holodisk. When he could not find it he looked behind him. "That little street rat stole the holo-disk!"

"A holo-disk? Do you need it?" Buck said.

"Yes, idiot, it's important! That disk has information that could help us save Ru' Bik!" Zack said aggressively.

"If the disk was so important then you should have taken better care of it, _idiot!_ " Buck said facing him.

The two were staring each other down in anger. Their faces were inches away from each other and both were clenching their fists tightly. They were a few seconds away from fighting until Lona spoke up. "We don't have time for this guys! Remember, Collectors coming for our ship in… two hours."

At that Buck pulled away from Zack. "We'll split up. That will help us find the girl faster." He said walking away. The split would also help him calm down and not kill Zack, he thought to himself.

"Good plan." Zack said through clenched teeth as he went in a different direction. Zack would use the split to cool off and not kill Buck, he thought to himself.

"Boys," Lona said rolling her eyes as each of them went separate ways. She also took a different direction in an effort to look for the girl. They would need to find her quickly, before they lost their ship.

/

"Inquisitor Ripper, what are you doing here?" Canoe uneasily asked the woman with the lightsaber with the red blade.

Canoe knew that his life was in danger. His knowledge was proven right when Saza charged at him with her lightsaber making a line in the ground as she dragged it behind her.

"Stop, Inquisitor! I'm warning you!" Canoe said as he withdrew his blaster.

He shot at her three times but to his amazement she deflected two shots with her lightsaber without even needing to slow down. The third shot she dodged by jumping up into the air. Buck was looking up at this woman who had jumped to an impossible altitude. His Stormtrooper training told him to shoot her while she was in the air but his instincts told him that if he stayed at that one spot while she came down, he'd be dead. He turned tail and sprinted away before she landed and before her blade swung downward to where his head used to be.

Saza Ripper began running after him as soon as she landed. The thrill of hunting down her target ran through her veins and she knew she would love the satisfaction of killing him. Canoe shot at a structure above his head, bringing it crashing down after he ran across and under it before it crashed to the ground. Saza came to a complete stop. Her prey was not a Force-sensitive but he made up for it by being resourceful.

Canoe ran into the alleyway after he shot the structure that was above him. He did not want to but he dared to look back at his pursuer. He saw her standing on the other side of the fallen structure. Her smirking face was washed in the light of the red blade of her lightsaber. At that moment she did not look beautiful to Canoe; she looked sinister. She deactivated her lightsaber causing her to be shrouded in shadow again.

Canoe began scrambling up a metal ladder located at the side of a building. He was hoping that he could get some advantage at higher ground and that he would be able to get around without encountering Saza. He got to the end of the ladder and jumped to an adjacent balcony. He kept jumping across balconies, getting higher and higher and further and further away from his pursuer. He had not seen Saza so far. Maybe she had given up or maybe I outran her, he thought to himself. He would survive this night, he happily thought to himself.

His hopes were dashed when he saw a figure at the bottom of the building. It was Saza and she was looking up at him as he made his progress. Canoe knew that she had no blaster and it would take some time for her to get up to where he was. He was well out of her reach and had the advantage since he had a blaster and she did not.

"Why are you doing this?" He shouted down, temporarily stopping. "What do you hope to achieve?"

"Is it not simple?" Saza said before leaping a few impossible feet into the air and onto a balcony. "I'm going to catch and then torture you until you tell me what you're keeping secret about what happened at Ru' Bik's compound. And then... I'm going to kill you."

Canoe was stunned into silence. He was not just stunned by her purpose for hunting him but also by the feat she had just completed. In one jump she was able to cover a distance that he could only achieve by climbing up a ladder and jumping on a few balconies.

Canoe began leaping across balconies again when he realised that he still was not really safe from her. "I'm not hiding anything! I told you and my superior everything I know! Why would you think different?"

"I have a hunch." Saza said before she jumped to another balcony, coming ever closer to her target.

Canoe stopped and looked at her as she landed on a balcony that was closer to him. "You're willing to kill me... over a hunch?" He said outraged.

She smiled, "I've killed more important beings over less."

Canoe suddenly shot at her. Saza activated her lightsaber ready to defend herself but his volley of fire was not aimed at her but at the balcony she was on. The balcony was damaged enough that it began falling straight down. She was able to jump off the falling balcony and onto the roof of the building. She loved the look of disbelief and fear on Canoe's face as she looked down on him. He was doing his best to stop her but it was not enough.

Canoe looked out and realised that he was standing on the last balcony. There was a pipe running upwards across the building next to the one he was currently at. He stepped back and ran forward before he leapt off the balcony to the pipe. He could not believe it but he would make it! When he was close to landing on the pipe, it began to move and twist on its own accord, as if it did not want him to land on it. His foot touched the pipe but because it had shifted, he lost balance and fell straight down from a few storeys to the ground. Canoe screamed his lungs out as he fell to the hard ground. On the way he hit a few protruding structures from the building which helped slow down his fall but also hurt him. He landed with a thud that ended his screaming.

Saza was at the top of the roof and crouched down to get a better look at the body way down on the ground. She regretted moving the pipe while Canoe was trying to jump for it. It was a reckless move and it may have killed her only lead… potential lead. _I should have tried to stop his fall_ , she angrily thought to herself. She sighed in relief when she saw the Stormtrooper's body slowly begin to stir.

Canoe could not believe he was still alive. His body was sore and bruised, probably had some internal bleeding but he was still alive and more importantly, he could still run. He got up to his feet and began running. He looked up and saw Saza running parallel to him while simultaneously jumping down the buildings closer to his level. She was fast but he knew that he would make it to where he wanted to get to before her. Saza landed in front of him but he was able to take a corner into a very narrow alleyway the alleyway was so narrow that either side of his shoulders almost brushed against the walls of the alleyway. He looked back and for the first time hoped that Saza had followed him and sure enough she did. He stopped and turned around to face her which prompted her to also stop.

"Give up Saza!" Canoe said smiling with blood stained teeth. "This alleyway is narrow so you won't be able to use your laser sword well. But in this alleyway…" Canoe raised his blaster and pointed it at her, "…my weapon has the advantage."

Saza looked amused and not as scared or worried as Canoe hoped she would be. "The 'laser sword' is called a lightsaber." She said as she activated the red blade in front of her face. "It is an ancient weapon for a more civilized age, not that a savage like you would know anything about it." She said as she held it before her as if she was mesmerised by the red light. She suddenly took her eyes off her blade and looked at Canoe. "And anyways, I have other tricks other than the lightsaber."

Saza thrust out her open palm. Canoe was suddenly hit by an invisible force that pushed him back. Any bones that his previous fall weakened, the mysterious attack broke. He felt two ribs break and all the air was forced out of his lungs as he flew and tumbled out of the narrow alleyway.

Canoe got up slowly and held his side. Saza Ripper was still coming after him through the narrow alleyway and he had lost his advantage and blaster, but hope was not lost yet. He ignored the pain his body was feeling and continued running. He reached the place where he had parked his hover bike and got on it before he flew away into the night sky to safety.

Saza could do nothing but watch him get away. She realised that Canoe was not just mindlessly running away from her but that he was getting to his hover-bike. Saza felt the anger build at being outsmarted and screamed out in anger into the night air as she unwittingly sent out a Force-pulse that pushed everything near her away.

/

Buck had calmed down considerably. He began to analyse where the Twi'Lek girl would take a holo-disk. He figured out that she would probably try to sell it off. He asked around for shops that sell and buy technology and found out there was only one place.

/

The Twi'Lek girl gave the Vultan across the counter the holo-disk. He activated it and his eyes went wide with shock. On the disk were blueprints for an Imperial prison and Imperial flight routes. This was valuable information and he could sell it at high price to Imperials and Rebels alike. The Vultan took out 2 credits and gave it to the girl.

The girl looked at the credits suspiciously. "That's too little." She said in her native tongue.

"Get out of here child! I've paid you what you deserve." The Vultan answered in the native Twi'Lek tongue.

The girl frowned and folded her arms in defiance. "No! If you won't give me more then I want my thing back."

"I am going to give you a hiding if you don't leave you street rat!" The Vultan warned.

Buck walked in and saw the girl. "You!" He said as he approached her. He noticed that the Vultan had the holo-disk. "Hey! That's mine, the girl had no right to sell it to you."

"Well too late…" The Vultan said holding the disk closer to his chest possessively. "This is mine now."

"He lies!" The Twi'Lek girl said, surprising Buck because he could understand what she said. "I did not accept the deal and he won't give it back!"

"You can speak Basic?" Buck said to the girl. He had to admit, she was good at fooling people. Buck looked at the Vultan, "you heard the girl. She did not accept your deal now give the disk back."

The Vultan snapped his fingers, "try and take it from me." The Vultan said. From the back of the store, the biggest Twi'Lek Buck had ever seen walked out. The Twi'Lek had on a yellow robe and instead of the normal two tendrils coming out of his head, he had four.

The Twi'Lek got to the other side of the counter to face Buck. "Okay-" Buck said to himself as he mentally prepared himself to fight the big Twi'Lek. He threw the first punch and his fist bounced off the Twi'Lek's face. It seemed to have no effect. The Twi'Lek grabbed Buck by the shoulder and swung him around before throwing him into the side of the store counter.

"No! Not on the counter!" The Vultan said. "Take this fight outside!" He said making a shooing motion with his hand.

The Twi'Lek grabbed Buck from the floor and lifted him up above his head. Buck struggled to get free, when he realised that her could not he tried to slap the Twi'Lek in the ears in order to take him out but his thick tendrils blocked any contact with his ears. Buck did not even know if that move was as effective on a Twi'Lek as it was on a human. He decided to rely on another tactic. He pushed his thumbs into the Twi'Lek's eyes temporarily blinding him. The Twi'Lek groaned through his teeth before he smashed his forehead into Buck's head. He let Buck slip through his hands as he wiped away the blinding tears in his eyes.

Buck landed on his feet but the headbutt had done its job as his wobbly legs failed to keep him upright and he fell. He heard a small voice call to him and when he opened his eyes, he saw the orange Twi'Lek girl knelt to look at him.

"Are you okay?" She asked in Basic.

"Okay? I'm winning this." Buck said before he got up and charged the also recovered Twi'Lek.

Seconds later Buck flew through the air and landed where he had fallen initially. The Twi'Lek girl did not even get the chance to move from her kneeling spot before Buck landed there again. He looked at the girl, "shut up."

Buck was suddenly lifted off the floor again by the Twi'Lek. "I hate you humans!" The Twi'Lek said. "You think you're so much better than us with your Emperor and Stormtroopers…" Buck continued to struggle but the Twi'Lek put a stop to it by slamming him hard onto the floor and lifting him up again. Buck struggled even less now. "I hate you humans and it will be a pleasure ripping you limb from limb!" the Twi'Lek suddenly grunted in pain and he looked down to see the small Twi'Lek girl biting him in the leg. "What are you doing, foolish child?"

Buck took advantage of the distraction by freeing himself of the larger Twi'Lek's grip. He jumped back and charged forward at him. This time he shouldered the Twi'Lek's leg with all his force bringing the Twi'Lek down to his hands and knees. The attack dislocated Buck's shoulder but he ignored the pain as he used his advantage. He jumped high into the air and stomped on the back of the Twi'Lek's head with both his feet, also bringing all his weight down on the big Twi'Lek. The Twi'Lek's head smashed on the ground and was knocked out.

Once the main threat was neutralised, Buck looked at the Vultan. "Now, give me the holo-disk or I'll tear you limb from limb."

/

Buck walked out of the shop with the holo-disk in his possession and his hand on his dislocated shoulder. He had to force himself to ignore the minor pain caused by his injury. He looked behind him and noticed that the Twi'lek girl was following him. "Thanks for the help, kid. Now go home to your family."

"I don't have a home or a family." The girl said. "I have to go with you or he'll catch me and make me pay." She said looking at the shop.

Buck looked at the same direction and had no doubt that the Vultan and his giant Twi'Lek could be merciless when they wanted revenge. He had dealt with people like them in his youth. He looked at the girl and said, "you will not be any safer with me, kid. Where I'm going there is only danger."

"It must be better than this." The girl said.

Buck sighed. "Only if you can keep up, kid." He said planning to lose the child in town. He began running and sure enough the girl followed close behind.

Buck eventually met Lona. "I found the holo-disk!" He said opening his palm to reveal the holo-disk.

Lona snatched it and placed it in her pocket. She noticed that Buck's arm was seemingly dead at his side. "What happened to your arm?"

"It's been dislocated. Can you help?"

Lona shook her head nervously. "No, I don't know anything about fixing… that."

"Of course, I guess the Rebel training course does not include basic first aid unlike the Stormtrooper training course." Buck said sarcastically. "I'll fix this when we have the time for now we need to get to the ship, right?"

Lona nodded before they ran off. "I'll call Zack and tell him to meet us there."

Buck followed her close behind. He looked back and did not see the Twi'lek girl. Although he was relieved, he also felt sorry for her.

/

Zack arrived at the ship. There were two Vultan in black robes who arrived the same time as him. When he stopped in front of them, one of them began speaking to him.

"Are you the current vendor of this ship?" One of the Vultans said. He took Zack's silence as a yes. "We are the collectors."

At that moment Lona and Buck ran past him and into the ship. The Vultans looked at the human male and female running into the ship they were supposed to collect. "Do you know those people?" The Vultan asked.

Zack smiled and punched the nearest Vultan before shouting, "collect that!" Zack then ran into the ship behind his shipmates. Lona began the take off process for the ship. Zack joined them after a little while.

"Did you guys get..." Zack began but was interrupted when Buck threw something to him. He was able to catch it and saw that it was the holo-disk.

Buck went about to helping Lona start the ship and take off. They all strapped themselves in before the red ship rumbled and blasted off into sky leaving the collectors looking surprised on the planet surface.

/

Canoe was at his promotion ceremony. It was smaller than he had hoped for. At the ceremony were his squadron member and their commander in their Stormtrooper armour, with their helmets under their left arms, and a few higher up officials in green uniforms. Canoe also had on his white arnour uniform and helmet under his left arm as he received his promotion.

"Candidate Officer Canoe Ida!" The ceremony a commanding officer said. "For your brave service to the glorious Empire and for your dedication to service I award you the promotion to Lieutenant Canoe Ida." The officer said as he pinned the badge on Canoe's suit.

At that all residing officers and officials turned to Canoe and simultaneously gave a salute. Canoe saluted back before he got off the raised podium. Canoe was excepting words of congratulations from colleges and friends alike. His Commander came to him.

"Well done, Lt. Canoe." He said smiling.

"Thank you Commander." Canoe said shaking his Commander's hand.

"Yes well done Lt. Canoe." Canoe heard a voice say behind him. The voice sent shivers down his spine. He turned around to the source of the voice and although he knew who it belonged to, a part of him wished it was not true. He then saw Saza Ripper.

"Thank you, Inquisitor Ripper." He said looking at her with distress on his face. Unlike Saza who had an easy smile on her face.

"Did you have a rough night last night?" The Commander asked.

Canoe turned to him quickly, "what?" He said, his voice in a higher octane than usual.

"Your face is bruised." The Commander pointed out.

It was true, Canoe's face was bruised. His cheek bone was purple and his lip was swollen. Everyone had ignored it probably out of politeness, something his Commander did not do.

"Uhm... Yes. Got in a minor fight with... a couple of jerks." Canoe said.

"Well you be careful. Congratulations again." The Commander said slapping his shoulder. "Inquisitor Ripper." The Commander said saluting.

"Commander." Saza said bowing slightly.

Now that the Commander was gone, Saza and Canoe were standing together. Canoe would have felt more uneasy if there weren't other officers in the room with them, other witnesses if Saza tried something. She started walking and stopped when they were standing shoulder to shoulder. Saza was looking in one direction while Canoe looked in the other. Neither of them looked at each other.

"I'm surprised you didn't report the events of last night." Saza said so quietly that only Canoe could have heard her.

"I was tempted but I realised that in the grand scheme of the army, you're more important than me. Which meant that if I said anything, I'd end up without a job or... worse while all you'd get would be a reprimanding."

Saza laughed and Canoe could imagine the sinister smile in her face. "I like you, Canoe. You know how to choose your enemies." She said with a smile on her face.

"Inquisitor Saza! Inquisitor Saza!" An officer said.

Canoe and Saza broke their secretive formation and Saza stood in front while Canoe stood a little behind her. The officer gave a short salute to her. "Inquisitor Saza I have a message for you." The officer gave her a page. She read the information sheet for a while.

"Interesting. The ship that escaped Ru' Bik's compound had been reported illegally leaving the planet Cirasso after a failed trade. I'll need to investigate but I will need a squadron of my own." She turned and looked at Canoe. She looked at Canoe and gave him a smile, "at least I already have one member of my squadron. It's time to test our new Lieutenant on the field."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Achew!"

Buck looked at Lona and Zack looked at Buck. They had all heard the sound of someone sneezing but neither of them were not sure which one of them were the culprit. They silently agreed to dismiss the sound and focus on plotting a course to their destination.

"Achew!"

This time they could not ignore the small and sudden sound. They all knew that none of them had made the sound. Zack suddenly moved quietly to where he thought the source of the sound was. He was not sure how he knew where the sound had come from. It was small and sudden so it would take an experienced ear to track it; it should not have been possible for him to be able to track the source down by the sound alone and yet he was doing it or was he being led by more than the sound? He looked behind a control panel and saw something he did not expect.

"What are you doing here?" Zack said angrily.

Buck and Lona ran to see who the mystery person Zack was talking to was. And there, crouching behind the control panel was a skinny orange Twi'Lek girl. Zack tried to grab her but she quickly ran away and stood some distance away from them.

"Come back here, you little thief!" Zack said.

The Twi'Lek said raising her hands. "I'm sorry for stealing from you guys but you did get your... thing back and anyways he said I could come." She said pointing her little finger at Buck.

Buck opened his mouth to protest but then closed it again after he realised that she was not lying. Lona and Zack were looking at the new Rebel in anger and he smiled back at them apologetically. "Okay... I think this may partly be my fault."

"Partly?" Zack said. "From where I'm standing this is totally your fault! How could you invite this... little thief onto our ship?"

"Hey!" The little girl protested.

"We need to turn around and drop her off before stuff on this ship goes missing." Zack said.

"Hey!" The girl said again, this time folding her arms in front of her defensively.

"No! If we land on Cirasso now, we'll be immediately arrested." Buck said.

"I think Buck is right about that. We'll have to just keep her safe for the time being. Until we figure out what to do." Lona said walking to the girl. When she placed her hand on the little girl's shoulder, the Twi'Lek girl flinched. "Do you want something to eat?" Lona asked sweetly.

The girl nodded.

"My name is Lona by the way. That's Zack and Buck." Lona said, introducing them all.

"My name is Dyna."

/

Canoe hated Cirasso. He hated Tanik. He hated his assignment. He hated the squadron he was in. There was nothing he seemed to like about this situation. Saza Ripper had assembled a squadron of Stormtroopers to help her in her investigations. Apparently, she needed soldiers in case she meets up with any significant Rebel forces. His commanding officer, the aforementioned Saza Ripper, was speaking to a group of Vultans. They looked glum and meek as one of them relayed the events that lead him to be punched in the face. Canoe did not even need to stand as close as he was to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"...and then he punched me in the face!" The Vultan said.

"Did they give any indication where they were going?" Saza asked.

The Vulatn rubbed his chin. "I don't believe they did, the scum! I would not be surprised if they headed for a place as uncouth as the Smuggler's moon!" The Vulatn spat out.

Saza rolled her eyes. The rich aristocrats really did annoy her. "In any case, the trade was illegal. As you now know, the ship belonged to Ru' Bik and we believe these criminals stole it from him." A thought suddenly popped into Saza's head. She had wondered why the Rebels would come to this planet. It is quiet, mundane and has strict laws and has shown no resistance to the Empire. Whatever Rebellion that existed on this planet would be very small and weak. But what if they were only stopping here temporarily? Maybe they had something to do here on this planet before they moved on. "Does this planet have any connections to Ru' Bik?"

Behind his visor, Canoe's eyes went wide with that question. Why had she asked about Ru' Bik? Anything connected to Ru' Bik was most likely connected to Buck in some way. He began sweating but not because of the heat but because of the sudden nervousness he felt.

The Vultan rubbed his chin. "The Bik family. Yes, they own a small business in town but of course the most famous of them is the great Ru' Bik. Now that man is an impres..."

"So he has family on this rock." Saza said cutting the man off.

"Yes, I..."

"Where do they live?" She pressed.

"In the living regions of Tanik., near the town center..." The Vultan said.

While the Vultan was talking, Saza turned her back on him to command her soldiers. "Alright men, we're going into Tanik to follow a lead, my lead! So don't disappoint me!"

With that they began to march away following Saza and leaving the Vulatns who were confused as to what had just transpired.

/

The Twi'Lek girl was eating like it was the last meal that she would ever get. Lona looked at the little girl with glee. She truly loved children; they made her forget all the stress cause by being a Rebel. The door to the room suddenly slid open and Buck walked through. He looked at them quietly for a moment and smiled. He had never seen such happiness in one room. Even in his most peaceful moments, he doubted that he had ever been as happy as Lona or Dyna were at this moment.

Only when Dyna stopped shovelling food into her mouth to look at him did he speak. "You should eat slower, lest you get sick."

"This is the most food that I've had... ever!" Dyna said spitting some of the food out. Her eyes suddenly went wide as she looked at Lona, "do we get to eat this much everyday?"

"Uhm... I'm not sure, hopefully." Lona answered placing her hand on her purple braids.

"We won't if you keep eating us out of spaceship and home." Buck added after Lona. "Where is Zack?"

"In his room." Lona said.

"Is he sulking?"

"Zack never sulks." Lona said reaching out into Dyna's plate of food to steal a little piece.

"He looks like the sulking and brooding type. I mean, he's a man with almost neck length flowing hair." Buck said almost disgustingly.

Lona looked at Buck and noticed how truly different Buck and Zack were from each other. Buck had short black hair; a muscular build, undoubtedly from the hard Stormtrooper training regiment, hard and serious hazel eyes and, even though he now calls himself a Rebel, he is the perfect boy scout. Zack on the other hand, had long flowing black hair, a thin frame, a result of living the hard life of a poor Rebel, and soft and friendly green eyes and, even though he tries to do good, he was kicked out of the boy scouts: The Jedi. Maybe that is why they can't get along, they were different from the outside to their core, she thought to herself. "You should speak to him." She said.

"I don't want to get my head bitten off."

"He won't bite your head off." Lona said.

"And how do you know?" Buck asked.

"Because I had the same conversation with him earlier." Lona said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Buck sighed, "I'll think about it." He said before leaving the room.

/

Di' Bik sat in the living room with the new addition to his family. He playfully tickled the baby's belly to make her giggle. He was happy that his father had accepted his cousin from the Rebels, it would have been shameful to leave such a defenceless member of the Biks to fend for herself. There was a forceful knock on their door that made him jump. His father appeared from the kitchen.

"I'll get it." He said as he passed his son to answer the door.

From the living room he heard his father's surprised voice and a lot of footsteps entering the house. A ginger haired human female walked into the living room followed by a group of Stromtroopers. She gave the signal to her men and two of them went to the other areas of the house. Di' Bik quickly got to his feet.

"We are here on important business, Mr. Bik. I suggest you co-operate." The human female without the standard Stormtrooper uniform said.

"Of course," The elder Vultan said. "In this household we abide the Imperial law."

Saza raised an eyebrow and turned back to look at the Vultan. He had said that they followed Imperial law. Why would he say Imperial law and not just the law. Of course it could be because his house was currently occupied by Imperial soldiers but she suspected he was hiding something.

"Do you really, Mr. Bik?" She said. "Why should we believe you? Even after your brother's transgressions against the Empire?"

"Most of the Biks are loyal to the Empire." The Vulatn said.

Saza Ripper smiled. She had trapped him. Only a few authorised personnel knew of Ru' Bik's arrest and reasons for it and yet, this man did not even ask what 'his brother's transgressions' were before he affirmed his family's loyalty to the Empire. It's as if he knew that Ru' Bik had been arrested, however, unlike the Imperial officers in this house, he was not authorised to know anything about Ru' Bik's capture. The Vultan knew that his brother was a part of the Rebellion and he knew that he had been captured by the Empire. Saza quickly pulled out a blaster from the nearest Stormtrooper and pointed it to the baby on the couch. The teenage Vultan instinctively flinched to the baby while all the troopers placed their hands on their rifle blasters. The baby looked at the weapon and was on the verge of crying.

"Strange, Ru' Bik also had a baby that disappeared during his arrest." Saza said.

"My... my wife had a baby a few months ago. She's at the market" The Vultan said.

Di Bik looked at his cousin nervously. He hated how helpless he felt. This woman was pointing a gun at his baby cousin and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Do you want your child to survive the day?" Saza waited until the elder Vultan nodded. "Then you will tell me what I want to know."

"Truly, i know anything about my brother's dealings," The elder Vultan said placing his hands together in a begging gesture. "Please, don't hurt my family."

Saza smiled. "So your daughter's life is not as important as the Rebels. You seem like a man who would love his son more than anything." Saza said before she turned the barrel of the blaster to Di' Bik. She knew he had him when he unwittingly gasped.

"Please. I beg you! I know nothing!" The Vultan said, growing more desperate.

"My father doesn't know anything!" Di' Bik said in a quiet, angry voice.

Saza looked at the teenage boy. "Then maybe you know something." Saza said as she changed the target from the son to the father.

"I don't know anything either!" Di' Bik angrily shouted.

Saza pulled the trigger and the elder Vultan dropped to his knees, moaning in pain. Di Bik tried to go to his father but a Stromtrooper grabbed his arm and held him in place. He was forced to watch as his father grasped his bleeding shoulder.

"Either you or your father are lying, boy!" Saza said. "No matter because if I don't find out anything, one of you Biks will live to bury the rest of the family." She said before she shot the Vultan teenager's father again.

"Fine! The Rebels came here and I told them about rumours that I have heard. Rumours about a rebel called Kisto who frequents a bar called Ground Haven." Di' Bik said. He was hurt by the disappointment on his father's face. His father had forbidden him from getting involved with Rebels in any way and he had. "Please, that's all I know."

"Good." Saza said as she handed the officer his blaster back. "Captain Robert, arrest them and arrest the mother when she gets here."

"What! But I told you everything I know!" The teenager said.

Saza looked at the boy and smiled evilly. "How can I be sure about that? I need to be completely certain and the only way I can do that is if I take you and your family in for _harsh_ questioning. It's going to be a shame, though. It seems like all of Ru' Bik's family will be in prison. His brother, niece and nephew and his sister-in-law" She said looking at the young teenager. "And I doubt your mother will last long under imperial questioning."

Di' Bik clenched his fists in anger. He had had enough of this woman threatening his family and he was not going to take it any longer. His anger boiled over the brim and he grabbed the blaster pistol from the holster of the nearest Stormtrooper. He aimed at Saza but did not get the chance to even pull the trigger before two shots sped through the air, one striking him in his forearm and the other through his chest, instantly killing him. He fell on to the floor as his father screamed out in anguish at having seen his son killed. The baby began crying out loudly, adding to the father's wails.

Canoe could not believe what he had just witnessed. Saza looked back at him and he swore he saw a smile quickly pass by her lips. It was like she was testing her men, like she knew what would happen. No, she knew what would happen because she caused it and wanted to observe her their reaction. Canoe noticed that his blaster was aimed at where the dead Vultan boy had been standing and his finger was all too eager to pull the trigger. He dropped his blaster, feeling shaken by the thought that if his comrades had not taken the shot, he would have. He now knew that his instinct would have made him shoot down a teenage Vultan and now Saza Ripper knew it too. He and the other men had passed her test but he did not know if that was a good thing or not.

"Should I still arrest them ma'am." Captain Robert said, his voice giving away the fact that he was also shaken by the events that had transpired.

Saza remained quiet for a moment before she finally spoke. "No. I have a hunch that the only person in this house who knew anything is... dead." She calmly said looking at the body of Di' Bik. "Ready the men to go to the Ground Haven bar."

/

Buck knocked on the door that lead into Zack's room. He waited for two minutes before he knocked again. He waited again but realised that he would not get an answer anytime soon. He rolled his eyes in annoyance before he opened the door to check if Zack was in. He was not expecting the door to open but to his surprise it did.

He peeked inside the room. The light source was off but the room was not completely dark. A blue light faintly illuminated everything that it was strong enough to reach, including Zack who was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor. His face was focused, more focused than Buck had ever seen, and was washed with the blue light. Buck looked at what he was focusing on and saw the source of the blue light. In front of Zack, a cube floated and spun on its own axis in the air. Above the cube was a hologram of a man doing somersaults with a lightsaber in his hand. Buck recognised the lightsaber which was strange because he had only ever seen one lightsaber. He realised where he knew the lightsaber from. The lightsaber had a feint green hue with a halo of the same colour near the hilt in the hologram. This was the same lightsaber Zack has.

Buck did not get a chance to see the rest of the hologram before it suddenly stopped and pieces that were once invisible in the dark to Buck suddenly began flying towards the levitating box. The pieces combined with the box to make a 3d hexagonal before it dropped into Zack's waiting hand.

"Enjoy spying on me?" Zack said looking at Buck.

"I wasn't spying." Buck said. He stepped into Zack's room as normal light returned to the room, illuminating everything. "What was that thing? Some kind of holo-disk?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Zack said before he put away the device. "What are you doing here?"

"I guess... I'm here to... talk?"

Zack sighed, "Lona spoke to you too, huh?"

Buck shrugged.

"Fine, sit." Zack said offering him a seat.

Buck sat cautiously while Zack sat on his messy, unmade bed. "If we're going to do this then we need to trust each other. Meaning fewer secret meetings and conversations, huh?"

Zack reluctantly agreed by nodding. "Fine, Lona and I will let you in on everything we do."

Buck was surprised at how easy it was to get a truce with shook hands as a sign of peace.

"I guess we should share one secret we've been keeping from each other to cement our alliance." Buck jokingly said.

Zack smiled, "I agree." He reached for the hexagonal item he had put away. "I hope I don't grow to regret this." He mumbled to himself. "You asked me earlier what this was," Zack said holding up the hexagonal box that Buck had seen him watching a hologram on. "It's called a Holocron. The Jedi used these to store and pass on knowledge of our... their Order."

"A Holocron." Buck said. He appreciated that Zack had taken the first step in proving that he would try harder to trust him. He did not really expect him to go through with it but he had and now he felt the pressure was on him. "I guess now it's my turn." Buck said nervously. He only really had one secret, one secret that he was very ashamed of. "My secret involves the time before we first met. I... I was, as you know, in the squadrons tasked with capturing Ru' Bik. I came to his room and I... I had just taken out a few Rebels..."

"You don't have to rub it in." Zack said not liking where this was going.

"... I stepped into Ru' Bik's room... well at the time I didn't know it was his room... I didn't even see her... she came so fast that I... that I..." Buck put his head in between his hands. It was almost like he was re-living the events of that day as he was speaking. His heart raced, he felt like he had on his white armour and all his senses where heightened. He raked his fingers through his short hair as he looked up again at Zack. He was not sure why he was doing this, why he was sharing this secret with Zack of all people. It was the only secret he had, he thought to himself. It was the only secret he had to tell, the only secret that he wanted to tell. He needed to get it off his chest, out of his mind and erase it from his conscience. "I killed Ru' Bik's wife."

Zack was stunned. For the first time since he had met Buck he was at a loss of words. "What? I thought... I thought she was in custody along with..."

Buck shook his head in shame.'"Get out." Zack said. "Get out!"

Buck left the room without saying a word.

/

Saza walked into Ground Haven. The Stormtroopers marched in and flanked her on either side with their blasters raised. The Ithorian who was wiping the bar counter with a cloth immediately stopped what he was doing and watched the newcomers to his bar closely.

"We are looking for a criminal called Kisto. If any one of you... no, I mean one of you knows who he is and no one is leaving here until I find him." Saza said. "Men, make sure no one leaves and check the identities of everyone in this bar. If they even have a record, arrest them."

There was a sudden volley of shots in the bar. Canoe was horrified to see that the man who had stood next to him was now dead with a smouldering hole in his chest. The bar was suddenly engulfed in chaos as blaster fire was exchanged between the Stormtroopers and some of the bar patrons. Canoe took one man out and ran to find cover, followed by other Troopers. They crouched behind a pillar of the building while they exchanged fire with their enemies. Those who did not move fast enough were quickly taken down, Rebel and Imperial soldier alike except for one, Inquisitor Ripper.

Saze had already ignited her lightsaber by the time the first shot had been fired. She deflected some of the shot as she spotted her targets. She suddenly ran forward and anyone in her way who was not wearing a white suit of armour, armed or not, was cut down. She saw one of the Rebels bravely get out of his hiding place and fire at her with his handgun. She advanced on him while deflecting his shots and cut his hand off before she severed his Vultan head from his shoulders.

Canoe and his companions shot a few more Rebels that were on Saza's blind side. The Trooper's superior officer ordered them to cover him while he moved forward to take out a few more Rebels. As soon as the officer ran out of the hiding place he was blown apart. Canoe risked a look out to see what had happened to him and saw that there was an Ithorian with a canon rifle blaster. He ducked in time as the Ithorian shot at where his head had been and blown a large chunk off the pillar they were hiding behind. The force and vicinity of the explosion was enough to push Canoe back until his back rested on his fellow Trooper. They helped him get up into a crouching position again.

"Keep them occupied, I'm going to go around and surprise them." Canoe said.

"I'll come with you." One of them said. They secretly slipped out the other way while his partners feigned an offensive.

Kisto jumped behind the counter and shot at the Stromtroopers along with his Ithorian bar keep friend. He was impressed with his weapon as he was keeping a group of Stormtroopers who had congregated behind a pillar at bay; in fact he was slowly finishing them off. The pillar they were hiding behind would soon no longer exist if he kept firing at it with his powerful blaster. Kisto noted that in general the Strormtroopers were scattered. Someone had panicked, whether it was a Rebel or a Cirasso criminal he did not know but the sudden blaster shot had disorientated the Stormtroopers giving them a fighting chance. He shot down the stragglers in white while noticing the woman who seemed to be at the centre of the action. Whether it was because of the fact that she was beautiful... for a human or because she wielded an unusual weapon, he did not know. He shot at her while she seemed preoccupied with killing a rebel that he knew well. To his surprise she deflected the shot and killed his Rebel friend, seemingly on one movement of her red bladed lightsaber. It almost seemed like she knew he was going to shoot at her before he did. She began running at his position with her laser blade trailing on the ground behind her. Kisto shot at her a few times but once again she effortlessly used her lightsaber to deflect his shots.

"Incoming!" Kisto said, trying to shift the Ithorian's attention from the Stormtroopers to the more threatening human woman with a lightsaber.

The Ithorian refocused his efforts on the inquisitor and fired at her. Saza placed her blade in between herself and the cannon shot, hoping to deflect it. Her lightsaber was able to scatter most of the energy but it was not enough as the force of the shot knocked it out of her hands and pushed her to the floor. She was able to roll away in time to avoid getting hit by Kisto's follow up shots. She hid behind an upturned table with her back to it. A sudden sense of dread came upon her and she knew she would have to move if she wanted to live. She rolled away a few seconds before the table was blown to splinters. She was fairly close to the explosion and therefore did not escape unscathed but at least she escaped with her life. She slowly got up as the ringing in her ears caused by the explosion began to subside.

"You can't hide from me, girlie!" The Ithorian said after blowing up the table the Imperiall lady with the sword was hiding behind. Kisto was frustrated as the mystery woman was now out their line of sight but at least his friend had made space for some of the Rebels to come over to the counter and use the back exit. He saw his Rebel companions running towards them while dodging blaster fire from the still standing Stormtroopers. One of them saw Saza was down and went to finish her off.

Saza noted a Rebel coming for her with his blaster aimed at her. In a situation like this and without a lightsaber, she was next to helpless. The Vultan was about to shoot her but he was shot down instead. She looked at the direction of her saviour and saw two Stormtroopers moving through the shadows.

Canoe's partner had just saved Saza by shooting her attacker. She looked disorientated on the other side of the bar, moving on her hands and knees. He noticed that she did not have her lightsaber with her. He looked around and saw her light saber. It was a straight, black handle with a black arch that started at the top of the hilt and curved down to the bottom, like a sabre guard. Her lightsaber was lying on the floor.

Saza saw someone coming from the corner of her eye and she knew it was no friend of hers. She was in trouble again.

Canoe had seen a few Rebels run past him, no doubt to regroup with their comrades. He took a deep breath as what he was about to do was madness. He exhaled as he ran out of his place of relative safety. He slid down on the ground as a volley of shots passed over head and using his sliding momentum, kicked the lightsaber to Saza while simultaneously shooting a Rebel that was still jumping over the bar counter at the back.

The lightsabe rolled right next to Saza and she ignited it before savagely sliced the Rebel that was coming for her in half, diagonally. Canoe came to join her in her hiding place while dodging Rebel fire. He looked at his commanding officer and he saw from her face that she was mad. She was worse and more terrifying than the night she was hunting him.

"These Rebels are dead!" She said, foaming at the mouth with anger. She jumped out from the safety of their cover and deflected a furious swarm of fire and changed their angle so that they deflected back to the Rebel group hiding ehind the bar counter. She was forced to jump back to the safer area to dodge the Ithorian's cannon shot. A small explosion erupted where she had been as the Ithorian missed her.

Another comrade had fallen. Kisto was visibly worried. The Stormtroopers had recovered from the sudden fire fight and were now becoming a formidable force and they had to deal with the mysterious lady with the red laser sword. She appeared and was able to use their own fire power against them as she deflected one of their shots into the chest of a Rebel.

"Kisto! You need to get out of here!" The Ithorian barman said.

"I can't leave you guys here!" Kisto said shooting down a Stormtrooper and ducking down to avoid the fire of another.

"Out of all of us you know the most about Rebel operations." The Ithorian said in a deep voice. "If you're captured it would be very bad."

Kisto bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. The Ithorian was right but he hated to leave his comrades behind. "Fine." He reluctantly said.

"Take some back up!" The Ithorian said before firing again and taking down the pillar that had Stormtroopers hiding behind. The pillar crushed the Stormtroopers who did not get away from it fast enough. Those who were fast enough found themselves without sufficient cover and were easily picked off by the Rebels.

Saza peeked and saw the escaping Rebels. "Lieutenant," she said getting the attention of Canoe. "Some of the Rebels are looking to escape. Take some men and stop them." Canoe nodded and was about to go when she stopped him by grabbing his arm, "don't disappoint me Canoe or you _won't_ live to regret it."

Canoe nodded fearfully before going out the way they had came in. Saza assessed the situation. Her men had formed an impressive offense and would soon overwhelm the Rebels. They would win this skirmish but she wanted to kill the Ithorian herself. There were five Rebels left now. She knew she could not get close to them with her lightsaber, not with the Ithorian standing guard and not without a sufficient distraction. She could throw something at him. She looked around and saw multiple upturned tables that she could use. No, they were too large and she was depleted of energy. She would need something smaller. She looked at the advancing Stormtroopers and smiled evilly to herself.

The Ithorian was probably the only reason why the Troopers were not advancing faster on them. He knew that if they were to escape with their lives they needed to distract the Troopers long enough to escape. To his sudden surprise one of the Stromtroopers unnaturally levitated into the air and flew towards him at great speed. He ducked down to avoid the strangely flying soldier. He landed in front of them and although he shot a few of them down, he had no chance of surviving as the Rebels riddled him in laser holes. The Ithorian got up and saw two small pillars on either side of his head. He was confused as there should be no pillars on the bar counter. He followed the pillars up with his eyes and saw them fuse into a slender body holding a red laser blade. The last thing he ever saw was Saza swinging her lightsaber down to cut his elongated head in half.

/

Canoe ran outside in time to see three Rebels mount their hover-bikes. "Open fire!" He commanded the two men he had bought with him. They all began shooting at the moving hover bikes. One of them caught fire and swerved out of control as it crashed into another. Kisto was forced to leave behind his Vultan friends. He knew that if he stopped he would be killed or worse... captured. He disappeared in the distance and was already formulating plans to get off the planet.

Canoe looked at the wreckage. One of the Vultans had survived. He and his companions dragged the man away from the wreckage and back into Ground Haven bar. The bar had quietened down, there was no sound of gunfire so he knew that the battle was over and from the state he had left the battle he was certain that they had won. To his lack of surprise he saw the Stormtroopers stand by, either nursing their injuries or checking on the Rebels.

Ground Haven bar looked a mess compared to how it looked before the fire fight broke out. There were broken glasses, different coloured alcoholic drinks were spilled on the floor, dead bodies of, Rebel and Stromtrooper alike, littered the floor.

Saza was bent over the body of a Rebel, checking for signs of life. She realised that the Rebel was dead. She let her excitement for battle get the better of her again and now she had no one to question about the Rebels who had REu' Bik's ship and possibly a Jedi. The mysterious lightsaber wielder seemed get further away from her now.

Canoe cautiously approached the Inquisitor. He remembered her last order and how he would not live to regret failing her. "Ma'am," he began. "One of the Rebels escaped but..." Canoe was cut off when he suddenly could not breath. He clutched desperately at his throat but there was nothing there. There was nothing to grab and remove so that he could breathe again. He simply could not breathe.

"Ma'am, he did capture one of the Rebels." One of the Stromtroopers who held the struggling Rebel Vultan said seeing how desperate the situation was for Canoe.

Canoe could suddenly breathe again. He coughed before breathing in thankful short breaths.

"Maybe you're not totally useless, Lieutenant." Saza said looking menacingly at her new Rebel prisoner.

"I'll never tell you anything Imperial scum!" The Vultan said before he spat at her shoes.

Saza smiled. "Oh, you will tell me everything I want to know." She said before activating her lightsaber. "In fact, you're going to sing like a bird..."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note

I apologise. I made a mistake with one of the Star Wars species. I mentioned a barman of an Itotchi species (Chapters 2 & 3) when I meant Ithorian (Chapter 5 used the correct species name). Anyways, enjoy Chapter 6... I hope.

* * *

Chapter 6

Dyna walked through the quiet hall of the spaceship. She looked around to make sure she was alone and when she was sure she was, she reached into her pocket and withdrew an item. The cylindrical device was stolen from Zack's room. She doesn't know why she took it but it felt as if it called out to her. Not sure what the item was exactly, she pressed a button and twisted the hilt to see what would happen and to her surprise a green blade leapt out heading towards her face. She barely dodged the green extending blade. The girl's eyes lit up. She had never seen something like this before. The green blade of light was beautiful and she looked down its length and noted that near the base of the hilt there was a green halo around the base.

Dyna swung the weightless blade around in the air and was amazed at the slight change in light intensity and the hum as he did it. She was no fool and she doubted that even a fool would fail to see that this item was a weapon. However her youth did not make her respect the weapon, even though she could recognised how dangerous it was. She swung the lightsaber again but overshot it and it sliced into the hallway wall. When she realised what she had done, she quickly withdrew the blade from the wall. When she pulled the lightsaber free the halo of the lightsaber cut her wrist. She dropped the lightsaber and squealed in pain. Sparks rained out of the sliced wall before there was an explosion which engulfed the area in fire.

Buck woke up with a start when he heard a high pitched scream. He grabbed his blaster as he ran out of his room with only his underwear on. He met with Zack and Lona.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Buck asked panicking.

Zack and Lona ignored him as they ran past him. Buck followed close behind. An alarm began ringing and Buck recognised the alarm meant that the spaceship had sustained damage. What had caused that damage was yet unknown. They reached a hallway engulfed in fire.

"How did this happen?" Buck asked.

"She's in there!" Zack said.

Buck instantly understood who he was talking about. Adrenaline was running through his veins and without thinking he jumped into the fire. He was blinded by an orange light before he saw Dyna lying on the floor. He gritted his teeth in an attempt to ignore the pain of his exposed skin being burnt. Dyna needed help immediately which meant that he would have to ignore his own health for the time being. Buck picked up her little body off the floor and did his best to cover her to protect her from the heat. He jumped back out of the fire and grunted as his body once again passed through the flames. He landed on the other side of the fire. Smoke rose from his dark skin and where he was burnt his skin became lighter. His underwear was slightly singed.

When he rose Lona rushed to check on the girl. She checked her and was relieved to see that she was still alive. "We need to take her to the medical room." She said.

Buck ran ahead with the girl in his arms. Lona looked at Zack worryingly. "Go," Zack said. "I'll stay here and put out the fire."

Lona nodded. It made sense that one of them should put out the fire to avoid the ship getting anymore damaged then it already was. She ran after Buck.

Buck got to the medical room and laid Dyna down on the table. He looked around the room for anything that could help. Lona came running in and activated a button on a counter. A section of the wall opened and a medical droid walked out. Buck was surprised to see the droid as he did not even know the ship had one.

"How may I be of assistance." The Medical droid asked.

"Check if she's okay!" Lona said gesturing to Dyna on the bed.

The medical droid inspected the Twi'Lek girl. "Mild concussion and minor burns and some second degree burns. The girl will be fine after some time and a little medicine."

Buck and Lona took a collective sigh of relief. She would be okay. "Do you know how she got hurt?"

"No," was the cold response that Lona said while checking on Dyna to be sure that she was fine.

Buck sighed. It looked like Zack told Lona that he killed Ru' Bik's wife. He began exiting the room with the intent of helping Zack put out the fire after he got dressed.

"Sir!" The medical droid said to Buck as he was leaving. "I have been analysing you and you have more serious burns than the girl."

Buck looked at his burnt arm. It made sense since Dyna was fully clothed, which meant she had a layer of protection while he faced the fire with only his bare skin. "I'll put some ice on it." He said before he left the medical room.

"Ice? That is not a viable medical solution." The droid said but it was too late as Buck was already gone.

/

Zack had finally put out the electrical fire. He looked at the damage to the ship. There was a vertical slit in the wall. His initial guess was that there was internal error with the ship that caused an explosion from the inside, however, that notion changed when he saw his lightsaber hilt lying on the floor. He picked it up and realised what had really happened.

"I see you took care of the fire." Buck said.

Zack looked back at him, thankful that he was dressed and not in his underwear.

"Yes." He said. "We need to have a meeting about fixing this damage." Zack said as he walked past him.

"When?" Buck asked but Zack kept walking on silently.

Lona was thankful to see Dyna was awake and feeling okay. Zack walked in on them as they were talking.

"You little thief!" Zack angrily said. "You swiped this from my room." He said producing his lightsaber.

"I... I didn't know it was your room and I didn't know it was your... lightsaber." Dyna said in a soft voice.

"Liar!" Zack shouted, scaring the Twi'Lek girl.

"Zack!" Lona said comforting Dyna in her arms.

"Don't excuse her actions! This is a dangerous weapon. I trained for years with a stick before I got to even practice with a lightsaber." Zack informed them. "You could have cut your head off with this. Don't ever touch it or any other of my stuff!" Zack angrily stormed out of the room.

Zack got to his room and sat on the floor, crossed legged in an attempt to calm down. Meditation was not his strong skill, so he just got frustrated with sitting on the floor. Soon he began fidgeting and all he could think about was getting up from the floor and resting on his soft bed. He got up, having been angry at being defeated by the practice and threw himself on his bed. Questions and problems were wrestling for the attention of his mind. It was Buck on one side, how to save Ru' Bik without getting himself and Lona killed on the other and the Twi'Lek girl, the new addition to their group.

 _Why is the Twi'Lek girl even a problem?_ He thought to himself. He reached behind his head, under his pillow and produced one of his only possessions, his holocron. He withdrew his lightasber and held the two items above him, side by side. "I should really put these in a safer place." He said to himself. Before he was a Rebel, he was just a man trying to make his way in the galaxy as a low paid taxi driver and after that he lived as a poor Rebel with only the clothes on his back, his lightsaber and holocron and Lona at his side. . Now he had or at least had a third of a spaceship and had his own room.

His lightsaber and holocron were always on his person even when he slept, now he had a room of his own where could safely put them. Or at least he thought he could safely put them here but apparently he had to have better places to put his things. He put the lightsaber at his side and looked up at the hexagonal holocron. An idea ran through his mind. The question of why the Twi'Lek girl was a problem, his problem specifically, he had just answered himself. He got up to a sitting position on the bed and focused on the holocron. The holocron levitated above his palm and changed shape. Individual pieces rearranged themselves until it looked like a brown box. The now locked holocron fell onto his palm.

/

Dyna was resting on the medical bed. Lona had ordered her to stay put until she felt that she had recovered. It did not matter how much she argued with the human, she would not leave the bed until told otherwise. She accepted Lona's order as her punishment for damaging the ship and stealing.

She sat in the bed bored. Her mind grew tired of looking at the room and its other occupant, the medical droid. Buck had come to check on her once. She was happy for the distraction. She spoke to Buck and noticed that he did not know that it was she who had caused the damage. He was nice and seemed to genuinely care about her well being, which surprised her since it was her presence that had gotten him in trouble with the rest of his crew members. He soon left to tend to other things and was sure that she was going to be okay. Once again she was left alone and bored being watched over by the droid. She was now pretty sure that the rest of the crew would try to kick her out because of her latest stunt and by rest of the crew she meant Zack. She made a pact with herself to avoid him for a while. And to her horror her next visitor was Zack. She kept quiet and looked at him with wide eyes. He said nothing while folded his arms and looking at her.

"Well?" Zack asked.

"Well what?" Dyna asked in her sweetest and most innocent voice.

"Aren't you going to apologise for coming into my room and stealing my stuff?"

She resisted the urge to roll he eyes. She only took a single item from his room. There was not much to steal except some blue and brown hexagonal thing and the lightsaber. "I'm sorry Mr... Zack?" She began in her soft tone, looking down like she was ashamed of her actions. "I'm sorry I stole from you, I'll never do it ever again." She said knowing that her continued existence on this ship relied on her good acting skills.

"Oh, shut up. You're not fooling anyone with that, let alone me." Zack said walking closer to her.

She was crushed that her show had not fooled him and flinched when he came near. But to her relief and surprise, he sat on her bed and showed her something in his palm.

"Do you know what this is?" Zack asked.

She shook her head, still trying to keep up with her sweet innocent girl act.

"It's called a holocron. Right now it's locked and I want you to open it."

Dyna cautiously took the holocron from his hand. She turned it slowly in her hands trying to find a button or anything that she could use to open it.

"You can't open it the same way you open other things. Only a certain kind of people can open it." Zack said.

"Why would you think that I'm one of these... certain people?"

"I'm not really sure but I suspect you are. Hasn't anything strange ever happened to you? Haven't you ever done something that you should not be able to do? Haven't you ever ran faster than normal; acted quicker than usual, knew things that you were not suppose to?" Zack asked.

Dyna was quiet for a moment as she thought of her life. She remembered a few times she did things that normal Twi'Lek girls her age should not be able to do. "I once played Ang Bak and was very lucky at it. Won a lot of credits too but I was accused of cheating and being too young and got kicked out of the casino."

Zack raised his eyebrow. He expected something more profound than winning at gambling. He shrugged, "that could be because of the Force. It can help you, lead you, make you strong, give abilities that no one else has."

"The Force? What's that?"

"The Force is in all living things. And I think you are sensitive to it. You can use it to open this holocron."

Dyna looked at the box in her hands. "And... and if I can't open it?"

"Then you're just another normal Twi'Lek girl who we need to get rid of before you steal something that will get us all killed." Zack said. "Focus on it, want to open it and you will."

Dyna closed her eyes and focused on the box in her hands. The room was quiet and all that could be heard was her steady breathing. Nothing happened. Even though she felt strange, nothing changed. The feeling was not a bad feeling and it increased the more she tried to will the holocron to open. Nothing still happened but then she felt an energy come forth from her, or was it from around her, and reach out to the holocron. Although she could not see it, she knew the holocron flew into the air and pieces of it broke off and levitated some distance away from the main body. She opened her eyes to see a blue hue hologram appear in front of a smaller blue and brown box. Other pieces of the holocron levitated in static positions around the main square. The hologram above the centre piece was of a [species] in a long cloak with the hood down.

"Hello, these are the recordings and documented knowledge of I, Jedi Master Sauvin..." The hologram began.

"Well done." Zack said, deactivating the holocron and making it land in his hand in its now open form.

"What does this mean now?" Dyna asked.

"It means, if you want... what am I talking about, who doesn't want to be a Jedi." Zack said the last part to himself. "I'm going to teach you to be a Jedi, kid."

"Your going to teach me to be a Jedi?" She excitedly said.

"Yes."

"Great! Uhm... what's a Jedi?"

/

"The ship needs repairs. I don't think anyone of us can deny that." Lona said. They had decided to hold a meeting to discuss the repairs the ship would need because of Dyna's _accident_.

"Yes and the ship needs weapons upgrade. We can't take on the Empire without a ship with weapons." Zack said.

"This is all good and well but where are we going to get someone who will install a weapons system and fix the ship without demanding credits?" Buck asked.

"We got some credits on Ciraaso from the botched ship trade. A deposit fee, if you will. We can use it to pay for any costs." Lona said.

"Buck scratched his head. To his knowledge they had never received the deposit fee as they had left the deal. "And when were you going to tell me we received credits from that messed up deal?"

"Calm down, Trooper. It's news to me too." Zack said.

"Yes. I only recently found out." Lona said in accusatory tone to Buck.

"And while I searched the ship for stuff to sell, I found a secret stash of credits on the ship." Zack said. "We can use it to refuel and buy some weapons."

Buck raised his eyebrow. Another piece of information that Zack and Lona had kept from him. He wondered if he was serious about the truce he spoke of the last time.

"This sounds like it's going to take long. We'll we be able to do all these things and save Ru' Bik on time?" Lona asked.

"These are things that we will have to do give us a better chance at succeeding." Buck said. "We'll have to hope they are done as fast as possible."

Zack and Lona agreed before they discussed several plans for rescuing Ru' Bik.

/

They landed on a planet called Jovin 3. They looked for an engineer and finally found one who operated on the black market. They promised to pay him more if he finished work on the ship faster.

It was the day after they had landed on Jovin 3 and Buck waited on the ship's entrance while the Engineer. He was preparing to go out into the town to get some supplies when Zack and Dyna appeared. They were walking out of the ship side by side. He looked at them quizzically.

"Where are you two going?" Buck asked.

"I'm going to teach Dyna a few things. Some of us are going to use this time constructively and not just stand around like some _other_ people." Zack said, being hostile with the last part.

Buck opened and closed his mouth because he was about to say that he planned on doing something constructive but Zack was walking further away, clearly not interested in what he had to say. Dyna looked back at him and waved goodbye. He smiled and raised his palm to gesture good bye too. It looked like they would not be guarding the ship while the engineer worked on their ship. It looked like Lona will have to stay with the ship while it was being worked on. To his surprise Lona walked out with a backpack at her back. He was about to speak when Lona cut her off.

"I'm going for a supply run. Weapons, food, medicine." She said without emotion as she walked passed him.

"But... I..." Buck started but Lona ignored him as she walked on. He sighed to himself. It looked like he was going to have to stay with the ship.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lona walked in the streets of the town in Jovin 3. She had worked hard to find the black market on the planet which would sell her weapons. She and the crew needed blasters. She had heard about an unregistered weapons dealer working from a certain building in town. She went to the door where a big Gamorrean at the door. It was big with green skin and small tusks on either side of its snout.

"Hello. I'd like to purchase some sticks." Lona said.

The Gamorean guard snorted at her.

She said something in another language that she did not understand. She was told it was the password to gain entrance. The Gamorrean reluctantly stepped aside and let her come in. She nervously ran her hand through her purple braided hair as she entered into the dark, steep tunnel like hallway. At the end and bottom of the tunnel she saw a weak yellow light that illuminated a room which had weapons on display on blue rectangular containers. The yellow light radiated from levitating lanterns.

Her hazel eyes fell on the weapons as she decided which of them would be most appropriate to her cause. The room had three people only. It had two Toydorians and an Ithorian, also looking through the weapons.

"They are a marvel, aren't they." An old voice said from behind her.

She looked up to see an Toydorian flying behind her. "Yes, they are. Are you the merchant?" She asked.

"Yes, I am. Watto's the name."

"Tell me," she said walking along the displayed blasters at the blasters with Watto following her. "Are they good quality?"

"Of course they are." Watto said. "This would be a fine weapon for a lady such as yourself." He flew to a small handgun blaster and showed it to her.

Lona made a face at the gun. Obviously, Watto was stereotyping her by offering her the cute weapon. The blaster lacked power and she was not interested. She took the blaster anyway and inspected it. Although she would not buy it, she used the opportunity to inspect its quality. It would be an indication of the quality of the rest of his weapons.

"So? What do you think?" Watto asked.

"It's good but I'm looking for something with... more power." She said handing it back to him. She went on inspecting the rest of the weapons. She saw the standard Stormtrooper blaster and thought of Buck Johnson. She had treated Buck coldly over the past few days after she found out that he had killed Ru' Bik's wife. But now that she was far away from him and can think clearly she questioned her anger. Yes, he killed someone that she had bonded with during her stay at the Rebel compound but was it her place to be angry at him, was it even her place to forgive him for what he had done?

"I see you're eyeing this blaster." Watto said gesturing the blaster. "You know it's the standard blaster for Imperial Stromtroopers."

"Ye I do." She said walking on from the blasters. She saw a handgun blaster that she remembered well. She raised the gun and closed her eye in mock aiming. Smiled to herself, she remembered old times. This was the kind of blaster Zack had carried when she first met him, when the Jedi purge had not begun and he had not fallen on the lightsaber and holocron he currently had. He used this weapon when he was still a taxi driver. Maybe if she brought the blaster for him he would use it and not be so overly reliant on his lightsaber. "I'll take three of these." She said placing the gun down and giving Watto the credits.

"Good choice. Good choice." Watto said before taking the credits and flapping away to get the other two blasters.

She continued to look around. She saw some vibro-blades that she was tempted to buy. Although she was not familiar with using them, she suspected that Zack could teach her. Wielding a vibro-knife could not be all that different from wielding a lightsaber, could it?

Lona looked over the collection of different sized blades blades. Her peripheral vision picked up someone new coming into the room. Lona glanced at the newcomer to asses them. She noted that the newcomer was a human female. The stranger had on a black body suit, brown gloves and boots and a green jacket. Her face was covered with a white niqab, which concealed her head, except for her eyes. Lona began feeling uneasy about the situation. She was relieved when Watto flew in and in his hands was a case that she guessed had her blasters.

"Watto! You scum sucking thief!" The newcomer angrily shouted when she saw Watto flying in.

Lona prepared herself for action. She was in a room full of lethal weapons and there were people who sounded like they would be willing to kill each other. Lona instinctively shifted far away from the woman and Watto.

Watto was surprised to see the newcomer, it was obvious that they knew each other. "5000 credits to anyone who can kill her!" Watto said pointing to the newcomer.

Lona was about to protest. She wanted her weapons before the killing fest began but it was too late as the three other beings began to fire at the mystery woman. Lona jumped for cover as blaster fire littered the air and watched the scene unfold. The mystery woman was reckless but could handle herself well with a blaster. She ran forward and took out one of the Toydorians shooting at her. Lona looked at Watto who had disappeared in a secret tunnel that just opened up at the other end of the room. To her surprise, the crates that had the weapons, closed up and blasted into the tunnel after the weapon dealer.

Another being was downed by the woman as Watto was making his escape. The tunnel was blown shut after the last crate went through, blocking any other access to the tunnel. The explosion made a few boulders fall from the ceiling. The Itorian was crushed under a one of the falling boulders. The mystery woman was able to narrowly dodge a falling bolder by jumping and rolling out of the way. When she got up she was tackled to the wall by Lona.

"You!" Lona said choking the woman against the rocky wall. "You cost me my credits and weapons!"

The woman pushed Lona away and kicked her, causing Lona to stumble back. Lona grabbed for the other woman's head but was only able to grab her niqab. The woman's black braids were released from their confines and were shorter than Lona's purple braids. The mystery woman was also a human with dark toned skin like Lona's. Their eyes met for a brief moment before the woman kicked Lona again. This time, Lona fell onto her back before the woman ran away, up the tunnel and out of the room. Lona got up and ran after the woman. The door to the exit was closed so she kicked it open and saw the Gamorrean guardsman on the floor with a smoking hole through his head.

 _So that's how she got in_ , Lona thought to herself before she scanned the area for the woman in a black outfit. When she saw her getting on a hover-bike she ran after her.

The mystery woman looked back and saw Lona coming after her. She smiled at herself and looked at her blaster which rested in its holster at her side. She could have shot Lona down but she wanted to humiliate her by leaving her in the dust. She stated up her bike and saw Lona desperately dived for it, probably seeing that she might not make it. The mystery woman had started the hoverbike while Lona was in the air and sped off. She looked back and was not surprised when she did not see her former pursuer. She wished that she could have seen Lona's face when she landed on the hard pavement on her face. _Well, she would have not technically have seen her face_ , the woman giggled to herself before focusing on her prey, Watto.

If the woman had looked more closely, she would have seen Lona hanging on her hover-bike with her legs being dragged on the town streets. Lona was able to grab the back of the bike just before it got away. She struggled to pull herself up but was finally able to get her feet on the hover-bike behind the mystery woman who had not noticed her yet. She was careful to keep her balance while walking to the driver. The mystery woman finally saw Lona coming from her peripheral vision while she looked at Wattos transporter which was just ahead, with crates and crates of weapons on the back. She was annoyed that the other woman was still bothering her. She swerved her bike to get her off of it but Lona jumped for her at the last moment and grabbed her neck and squeezed.

Meanwhile, Watto dug in his array of weapons and withdrew a large and cylindrical weapon. Watto shot at the hover-bike with the two fighting woman. A bright twinkling sphere with a smokey tail shot out of Watto's gun towards the target. The sphere exploded into a magnificent and blinding white light. The light disorientated the hoverbike driver long enough for her to head for a wall . She swerved to avoid it, which she did but then lost control of the bike as it spun in the air. The bike did a summersault, throwing both woman off and landed loudly some distance away.

The two woman slowly got up. Miraculously, both only had bruised and torn clothes but were not seriously hurt. The mystery woman had lost her blaster in the crash, otherwise she would have shot Lona dead on the spot.

"You idiot! Why would you do that?" The woman said.

"Well, I lost my blasters and credits. I couldn't get to Watto, so the logical choice was to get you." Lona said, weary of the other woman.

"Makes sense. Look, Watto screwed you and me over. Half of his weapons are suppose to be mine." The woman began. "I'm not in the mood to kill you, so let's make a truce. We'll work together to get Watto and when we catch up to that scum I'll give you your credits back, the weapons you bought and Watto's neck... preferably not connected to the rest of his body."

Lona nodded, slightly horriified with the woman's language.

"So what do I call you? Purple braids?" The woman said as she walked to her damaged hover-bike while pulling her brown glove more snugly over her hand.

"Your one to talk, Black braids." Lona retorted while self-consciously tying her long braids, that had come untangled during the crash, into a shorter bun. "My name is Lona Fargo."

"Fargo huh?" The woman said looking back at Lona. "My name is Solo, Sana Solo."

/

Lona and Sana drove through the town looking for Watto. Sana was driving in front while Lona held on to her from behind.

"Sana, stop!" Lona said over the roaring wind rushing by her ears.

Sana stopped. "What?"

"Look." Lona pointed at a familiar looking crate in the street parallel to the one they were in. Sana drove to the spot and they both got off and inspected the blue box.

Sana opened it and found numerous sized vibro blades in the crates. "I'll take this as a down payment and the rest will be all the other weapons and Watto's life! He'll p[robably try to get off world to escape me. Wouldn't be the first time."

Lona wanted to suggest that she calm down but Sana scared her... a lot. "It looks like he went in the opposite way to where the spaceship port is." Lona said referring the town's nearest spaceship port.

"He probably has some other place where his ship is," Sana said while digging in her green jacket for a holo-disk. She activated her disk and a map of the town and surrounding area rose up from it. "He only has three streets he could have taken to get out of the city."

"There is a forest to the North and a clearing to the South." Lona pointed out when she saw the map.

"Then we go south." Sana said, deactivating the hologram. "Seems like an ideal place to land a ship. Other than the port of course."

"Wait. I'm sure many people have tried to use the clearing area as a spaceship landing area. He'd have to pay whichever gangs control that area to keep his spaceship secret from the authorities and safe from bandits."

"Watto isn't the type to pay for anything. He lies and cheats his way through everything." Sana bitterly said.

"Maybe he wants us to think that his ship would be at the clearing." Lona said.

"Yes but his only two options are the ship port, where he'd have to pay high prices to keep his ship secret from the authorities and the clearing. I think he's at the clearing but we'll take the middle road to the outskirt of the city that way we can spot him no matter where he goes, north or south."

Lona could not argue, so she nodded and helped Sana load the crate with the vibro blades to her bike before they drove off.

"We'll be able to catch up to that rat, since his transport is weighed down by all those weapons." Sana said.

Lona agreed as she scanned the area for Watto. "So, you're a weapons dealer." Lona said trying to make conversation.

"Weapons dealer, smuggler, occasional bounty hunter and all around criminal." San said casually. "And you? You don't look like the type who would be buying weapons on the black market."

"Why's that?"

"Well let's see: you're pretty, you speak with a soft sweet voice, you have a low IQ. You look like the type that would marry some old fart for his money and live the rest of your life as a trophy wife." Sana said before giggling. "But I guess it makes sense that you'd be buying a weapon on the black market. Are you planning to kill your granpa husband, Lona?" She said with mirth in her voice.

Lona was annoyed by the woman's comments. "I'm a Rebel." Lona proudly said, expecting to shock and awe Sana.

Instead of being in awe Sana laughed. "Wow, you have a lower IQ than I originally thought. I don't understand why anyone would do something as stupid as being a Rebel."

Lona kept quiet but was fuming on the inside.

"Do you regret it? Being a Rebel, I mean. I would."

"No. I regret nothing." Lona said.

"No one regrets nothing. That's just a lie."

"So I guess that means you have regrets."

Sana kept quiet for a moment. "Of course. I do. We all have things that we've done that we can't change, no matter how much we want to, no matter how much we apologise. But that doesn't mean anything. Some delusional people think that the ability to regret is a sign that someone is good, others think that it is a sign of weakness. I think that's a load of crap. If you want to judge a woman, judge her by what she does now and her intentions not by what she's feeling sorry for. Tears can be faked, action cannot." Sana said while her bike gained more speed.

Lona thought about what Sana had said. She did not agree with everything she had said but it did make her think that maybe she and Zack had judged Buck too harshly for his past crimes.

/

They drove on the town's main street. All the town's roads stemmed or crossed this road, increasing the chances that they would run into Watto's transport. Lona was the first to spot the larger transport with crates at the back. Sana turned into a street and emerged on the other side and besides Watto's transport.

Watto was shocked to see Sana alive and it seems that she had a freind. He narrowed his eyes as he recognised the girl from somewhere. He searched for a weapon that would permanently take care of the two women.

Sana swerved closer to the transport. She suddenly grabbed Lona's hands off her hips and placed them on the bike handles. "Keep her steady." She said before getting up.

"What! Sana, no...!" But it was too late for Lona's protests. Sana had stood up on the bike with Lona's arms on either side of her legs.

"Get me closer! I need to jump on!" Sana said.

Lona reluctantly agreed and drove closer. To her surprise, Watto appeared and began shooting at them with a blaster. Lona swerved the bike away to doge the two blaster shots.

Because of the sudden swerve, Sana almost lost her balance. "Hey! Keep her steady!"

"If I keep _her_ steady, he'll have an easier target!" Lona complained.

"No excuses. Now get me closer!" She said before taking out her own blaster and shooting back at Watto who had to take cover.

Lona did a good job of steadily and quickly bringing the hover bike closer to the transporter and when they were close enough Sana jumped to it. She grabbed the edge and had to pull herself onto the it. She lifted herself up to find a blaster pointed to her face by Watto. She quickly swatted the gun and it misfired. She got onto her feet and kicked the gun away from Watto. Now unarmed, Watto tried to fly away but was shot down by a shot to the back from Sana. She turned the creature around so he could face her and placed the barrel of her blaster under its chin.

"Sana, please don't kill me." Watto said spitting out blood. "You can have the weapons and the credits just... spare me."

"I would but I promised someone your head." Sana said before pulling the trigger...

/

Sana kept true to her word. She gave Sana her blasters and the credits she would have paid for them. Lona used some of the credits to buy Sana's badly damaged hover-bike from her to use as her personal transport. Sana said she would go to the clearing to get Watto's ship. They said their farewells and Sana disappeared into the city with her newly acquired possessions.

Lona was left alone and she wondered where Watto was going. She doubted that he was heading for the clearing, meaning his ship may have been somewhere else. She used the bike to drive into the forest located on the outskirts of the town. She saw a narrow path that would have been big enough for Watto's transport. She drove through the path, surrounded by beautiful trees with pink leaves and purple flowers. Her hover-bike eventually broke down and now she had to decide whether to take the long walk back to the town or go forward to see what she could find. She decided on the latter and took her blasters and walked on. The pink forest ended and opened up to green rolling hills and on top of one of those hills was a small ship. She smiled at herself because before her was Watto's ship. And since he was dead, it meant that the ship was up for anyone to take, that someone would not be Sana but her. She got in an flew away. She had just added another ship to her and her crews cause.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Zack and Dyna were walking to the outskirts of the town of Jovin 3. The change in scenery became more obvious the further away they got from the town's centre. The grey and brown of the hard town surfaces were gradually replaced by the green grass of rolling hills.

"I don't see why we have to go this far for you to teach me Jedi stuff." Dyna grumbled.

"Because if anyone knew I was teaching you 'Jedi stuff', or if anyone even figured out that I know 'Jedi stuff' then we'd be putting a big target on ourselves." Zack answered. "And anyways, it's best to start your lessons in a quiet place with few distractions."

They were forced to stop when they heard a feint voice in the breeze calling to them. They looked back to see an old Toydarian flapping his wings towards them. "Beware..." The old Toydarian said. He had on rags and was dirty with a few small holes in his poor looking wings. It was obvious that this being was one of the town's poorest inhabitants.

"Beware what?" Zack asked.

"The Rogue Ramlon," the old man said in a rusty voice. "The Rogue Ramlon went so insane that its own herd abandoned it. Now, it lives alone on the outskirts of town, madly attacking anything that moves."

"If you ask me, the Ramlon isn't the crazy one." Zack said before turning around and walking on. Dyna looked at the man floating above her. She felt sorry for him as she knew the sting of poverty all too well. "Come on, Dyna!" Zack said having placed some distance between them,

Dyna tore her eyes from the old man as she ran to catch up with Zack. "Don't you think we should be careful of the Rogue Ramlon?" Dyna asked when she caught up and began walking beside him.

Zack snorted at her comment. "The old Toydarian is obviously mad. Pay him no attention." He said waving the notion of the man away.

Dyna sighed before looking back at the old male one last time and saw his steady gaze trained on them as they got further and further away from town.

/

Dyna was standing blindfolded while Zack slowly circled her. In her left hand was Zack's ignted lightaber. The blade looked thinner in the daylight and as usual it had a green halo near the base. The constant hum of the lightsaber seemed to play in tune with Zack's voice as he lectured her in ways of the Force and lightsaber combat.

"...the lightsaber should become an extension of you. It is your life and will help you if used properly. You see anyone can use a lightsaber but one who is sensitive to the Force can truly master it." Zack said while picking up stones.

"The Force?" Dyna said listening intently to Zack's movements.

"Yes the Force. It's all around us; it permeates us; it binds us..." Zack continued talking while picking stones. He stopped picking stones when he had a handful of them. "You need to use it to defend yourself now. Feel it and let it guide you to my actions."

Dyan raised the lightsaber in a guarded position while holding it with both hands. Zack threw a stone which connected with the side of her head. "Owe!" She exclaimed before swinging at the air, way too late. Zack changed positions and threw another stone. This one connected with her shoulder, which made her swing uselessly again.

Zack noted the shift in her stance and head movements in response to his moving around her. "Well, at least you're using your senses. It's a good habit of a fighter but a Jedi uses The Force when his senses become inadequate" He said before throwing another stone that connected with her hand.

He began circling her faster and threw stones at a higher frequency. She swung the lightsaber but the stones seemed to get through her defences. She grunted in pain as more and more of the stones pelted her. Zack eventually ran out of projectiles.

Dyna removed the blindfold and deactivated the lightsaber. "A bit rough for a first lesson, don't you think?" She said rubbing the spots the stones had connected with.

"It could be worse." Zack said as he picked up more stones. "Well? Put the blindfold back on."

Dyna sighed before she pulled the blindfold back over her eyes and activating the lightsaber.

/

The training had ended with limited success. The sun had already begun to sink below the horizon, colouring the sky in a magnificent orange and purple light. They walked through the grassy fields on their way back into the town and back into their ship.

"...so Jedi were not allowed to have attachments?" Dyna said reflecting on some of today's lessons.

"Well, I wouldn't say not allowed but more of... strongly discouraged.

Dyna was quiet for a while before she asked her next question. "So what's Lona to you?"

"What? Uhm..." Zack uncomfortably thought of an answer. He looked at Dyna who just stared at him while waiting for an answer. If he was honest with himself, he was not exactly sure what his relationship with Lona exactly was but he knew that it was definitely an attachment. "Lona and I... are complicated."

To his relief, Dyna asked no more questions on his relationship with Lona. Zack continued to explain or more accurately, repeat some of the concepts he had learned about being a Jedi while they once again entered the town. Dyna's stomach began to grumble and she held it in her hands.

"Next time we should bring some rations. I've been hungry for a while now."

"Agreed!" Zack concurred as he could not bare to ignore his hunger any more.

/

They headed out for the same place where they trained the day before. This time they had a bag that had food for when they grew hungry. Dyna carried the bag on her back while Zack strolled freely, enjoying the leisurely walk. As they crossed from concrete to grass and earth they saw the same old Toydarian sitting on a rock. When he saw the two, he began to hover in the air. "Beware..." He began.

"Yeah, old man. We heard your story yesterday." Zack said passing the man while raising his hand to the Toydorians long snouted face.

Dyna looked sadly at the man as she followed her master. She stopped and placed the bag that was around her shoulders on the ground. She produced a portion of the food and placed it on a napkin which she placed on the green ground for the Toydorian. She smiled at the old man before she ran after Zack. The old man happily flew to the food that was left for him.

When she caught up, Zack kept walking, acting like he had not noticed her short absence or the kindess she had shown the old Toydorian. He did not speak until they reached their secret training spot.

/

Dyna was being pelted by stones from seemingly all directions. She swung the lightsaber wildly in an attempt to defend herself.

"You can't just swing the lightsaber in hopes of hitting something!" Zack scolded as he ran around her. "Someone will get hurt if you do that and that someone will most likely be YOU!" He said increasing the frequency of the stones he threw.

Dyna stood stationery as stones were thrown from different directions. It was like she was in the middle of a stone throwing vortex. "Maybe... ow ...I should take... ow.. take off the blindfold for a while." Dyna said while trying to defend herself from the furious stones hurled at her. "You know... owe... crawl before I walk."

"We live in a dangerous galaxy, especially if you're a Rebel even more so when you're a Jedi. For us, there is no crawling, there is no walking! You hit the ground running or you DIE!" He said throwing three stones simultaneously.

Zack's words affected her. They forced her to concentrate and in a split second, she knew that three stones were heading for her. She knew where, they were, the angle they were thrown and how fast they were moving. She deployed the lightsaber stances that Zack had taught her to parry the two stones, which sizzled in half as soon as they touched the green laser blade, and finally slashed at the last stone.

Zack stopped and smiled. He had run out of stones but was happy that his pupil had defended his last attack. "That was... better."

Dyna lifted her blindfold to look at her master. "Did I do good?"

"Yeah. In a decade or so you should be average." Zack said.

"Pfft! Can we have a lunch break, Master?"

Zack beamed at being called Master. They had been training for hours. "Wouldn't you prefer if we ate a little later?"

"I'm hungry now." Dyna said in a whiney voice.

Zack rolled his eyes and nodded. He suggested that they eat at the top of a raised plain with a tree for shade as the spot they were training at was a rocky patch of earth with no grass or shelter from the sun. They began setting up their rations on a powder blue blanket under the shady spot of the tree at the top of a grassy hill.

"What happened to the Jedi?" Dyana asked as she withdrew a container with food from their ration bag.

"The Jedi were betrayed by the very Republic they served." Zack said as he sat down on the blanket crosslegged. "They were destroyed during what we call the Jedi Purge and with the Jedi gone there was one less thing stopping the Republic from becoming what we now know as the Empire."

"How did you survive the Jedi Purge?" She continued to ask as she took out two small metal cups.

"It probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not a Jedi." He said. He noticed the curious look on her face and waited a little to let the tension build before continuing. "When I was admitted into the Jedi Temple, I was older than the other younglings, this made the masters reluctant to teach me. As I attended they found me too... aggressive, so they expelled me... honourably." He added the last part after he saw the worried look on Dyna's face.

"So although you're my Master, you're really not a master." Dyna giggled. "A master who's not really a master."

"A master who's not a master is better than no master." Zack said pouring a purple drink they had brought with them in a metal cup. "And anyways, I'm a master at other things too. "After my time with the Jedi, I became a cab driver on Coruscant. I eventually moved to the outer rim planets where I could get more credits for doing more than just driving taxis. By that time I had forgotten all about the Jedi and The Force. That is until the Purge happened and a Padawan, who I was friends with back when we both were younglings dropped Sauvin's holocron and lightsaber on my lap before he died of injuries sustained while running away from Clonetroopers. And just like that I was launched into the life of a Rebel and became a Jedi in training."

"hmm... sounds tough." She said as she opened the container with her food. "Could you pass the juice please?"

"Take it." Zack with a sly smile.

Dyna sighed as she knew, from his look, how Zack wanted her to take it. She held her hand out as she focused on the bottle with the purple juice. The bottle began to tremble under her power. The trembling of the bottle soon increased and became more noticeable as it jostled the liquid in it about. It leaned towards Dyna and slid for a few centimetres before fall over. Dyna sighed again and reached forward to take the bottle in her hands before pouring the liquid into her cup.

Zack simply smiled at her effort before eating. Dyna soon finished her portion of the food and gladly ate all of Zack's when he offered her what he did not eat. With lunch concluded they began their training again. As with the previous day, they trained until the sun began setting and went back to their ship after.

/

They woke up the same time the next day and began their journey to their training spot.

"Master, do you have enough time to train... you know, for yourself?" Dyna asked while walking with Zack.

"I've been training during the past two days." Zack said.

"What? I haven't seen you!" Dyna said, sceptically.

"What do you think I do when Buck forces you to go to bed?"

Dyna narrowed her eyes at him as he looked past his long neck-length hair at his eyes and noticed the little bags under his eyes. "You train all night?"

"Almost," he says. "To be honest, I'm a little anxious to get off this rock and do what we set out to do."

"Buck told me that the Engineer working on the ship may finish today." Dyna said trying to get his hopes up.

"Let's hope so." Zack said before they arrive at the usual spot where they saw the old Toydorian.

Zack did not even bother talking to the man as he warned them about the Rogue Ramlon. Dyna unpacked some food for the man as he spoke and as Zack walked away, not missing a step. She had made sure to pack away extra food for the poor old Toydorian.

They reach the spot where they trained and began. Dyna went through the stances that she was taught and that she could remember.

"This is an energetic style. It's called Form IV, Ateru." Zack said as he analysed her movements to make sure they were executed correctly. To say the least, he was not impressed. "I learned the style during my time at the Jedi Temple and from Sauvin's holocron."

"Yeah?" Dyna said feeling breathless, while continuing to fight an invisible opponent. "It's a fun!"

"Fun?" Zack said raising an eyebrow. "It's not supposed to be fun. There should be little to no emotion during combat." He said feeling a little guilty because he enjoyed the style too.

Dyna jumped in the air and spun before bringing the lightsaber down onto the ground. "Why is that?" She asked, already short of breath.

Zack was quiet for a moment before gesturing for her to sit down. Dyna deactivated the lightsaber and placed it on her lap as she sat down, crossed legged on the grass. "I haven't taught you about this because it is one of the reasons why I was expelled. Emotions, especially for people like us, may lead us to the Dark Side."

"The Dark Side?" Dyna said. "Is that why you were expelled for being aggressive? Because they did not want you to go to the Dark Side?"

"I guess so. The Jedi's job is not only to keep the peace but also to bring balance to The Force. It would not help if they were the ones bringing imbalance to it." Zack smiled after he answered the question as he realised something. "You seem to know a lot about me but I know nearly nothing about you, Dyna."

"What do you want to know?" She said while catching her breath and deactivating the lightsaber.

"How did you end up alone on Tanik?"

"My... my mother died giving birth to me and my father was an irresponsible jerk who abandoned me as soon as I could beg for alms." She said bitterly while sitting down.

"Hmm... I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've quickly learned that everyone in our crew has had a tough life, You me, Lona and Buck. I don't know why but knowing that makes me feel better."

Zack nodded, totally understanding. It was therapeutic to be amongst people who knew and understood your pain. However, he had never thought of Buck and he as part of a crew, but with them working together, it did make sense that they could be labelled a crew.

They were both startled by the sound of something exhaling loudly. Dyna got to her feet when she saw the source of the breathing. Before them stood a creature on four hooves, it was almost as tall as Zack and wider. It's brown and shaggy fur covered it's muscular body and became lighter the further down it went on its body until it was white at the beast's stomach and black hooves. It had two thick brown horns coming from its head, which curved down the side of its head before curving upwards with both horns' points meeting just above its red, bloodshot eyes.

"Oh no, its the Rogue Ramlon." Dyna said quietly.

"Nonsense, It's probably a normal hungry Ramlon looking for food." Zack said as he backstepped to where they had left their food supplies. He picked up the bag before walking forward and offering the bag with the rations to the beast.

"What are you doing? That's our food." Dyna protested quietly.

"Well it's either our food or our lives and I, for one, prefer to live." He said in a whisper before throwing the bag at the beast.

The Ramlon sniffed the bag and unsatisfied kicked the bag away with its front hooves.

"You see what he did?" Dyna said disgusted. "You did not deserve a scrap you wasteful little..."

The beast began kicking its leg as if it understood the insult. It breathed out a light steam from its flaring nostrils as it lowered its head to make the horns stand at the fore front.

"I think we should run." Dyna said just before the Ramlon charged.

"I think you're right!" Zack said before they turned tail and ran for their lives. The beast roared in excitement as it gave chase.

Zack glanced back and his eyes went wide. "Dammit! It's catching up!"

"What do we do?" DYna asked desperately as she was struggling to stay ahead of the beast.

"We split up! Maybe that will confuse it!"

They both split up, with Dyna running left and Zack right. The Ramlon did not waste any time in going after Dyna.

"Of course it would go for the smaller of us!" Zack said as he changed directions to follow the Ramlon, which chased after Dyna.

Dyna looked back and saw that the Ramlon was quickly closing the space between them. In a matter of seconds she would be caught. She looked forward and ran harder, harder than she had before. She felt a power come over her, a power that made her legs stronger and her running faster. She began outrunning the Ramlon. She kicked up soil as the grass around her became a green blur. In front of her was a rock outcrop that she knew she could not waste time climbing. She leapt with all her strength, expecting to land as high on the rocky outcrop as possible, however to her shock, she surpassed her goal and sailed over the outcrop. She knew her jump was because of the force but the landing was from her inexperience. She landed for the great height she had jumped and fell and rolled on the ground

Dyna got up and was scared when she heard the Ramlon roar. She noticed the device she was holding in her left hand. She still had the lightsaber! She held it in both hands and activated it to defend herself. As soon as the green blade erupted from the hilt, the Ramlon rammed through the outcrop, smashing it to rubble. Dyna had planned to dodge while slashing at the beast but she had misjudged the bigger creature's speed and as a result it caught her at her side, sending her spinning through the air before landing down on the ground.

Zack came just in time to see her land. He ran forward but stopped when he saw the Ramlon turn around to face him. They both stared at each other from the distance, and in the middle was Dyna who was lying face down. Zack was unsure if Dyna was still alive. He was answered when he saw her begin to stir.

Dyna got up onto her hands and knees. Her vision was getting blurry and her hearing was gone. She looked at either side and saw the Ramlon on one side and Zack on the other. The Ramlon lowered its head while kicking the ground like a bull ready to charge while Zack looked like he was getting ready to act as he faced off against the Ramlon that had a diagonal gorge in its thich horns, where Dyna had caught it with he lightsaber . She did not know who reacted and who acted, for to her impaired perception both Zack and the Ramlon began running at her.

She could not hear the Ramlon's roar and hooves as they drummed into the ground in an effort to get to her. She could not hear what Zack was shouting at her as he ran for her too. All she could see was his mouth moving while he pointed at something. What? What was he pointing at? Dyna followed the line of his pointing finger to the ground in front of her. And there, in front of her, lay the lightsaber she had tried to use to defend herself. She understood what Zack wanted and using the last strength she had, she grabbed the lightsaber hilt and threw it at Zack.

Zack caught the lightsaber in the air and with a twist and pressing of a button a green laser blade came to life from the hilt. When Zack was close enough he jumped into the air and the Ramlon did the same, aiming its horns at him while he held his lightsaber in a way to strike the beast. That was the last thing Dyna saw before the blackness of unconsciousness took her sight.

/

Dyna woke up being carried in Zack's arms. He was looking forward with a determined look on his face. "M-Master." Dyna said in a weak voice.

Zack looked down at her and smiled. The smile was not his usual smile that was polluted with cockiness but this one seemed kinder and softer. "I'm glad you're awake, little one."

"The Ramlon!" Dyna exclaimed trying to move.

"Relax, I took care of it." He said as the cockiness returning to his smile.

Dyna began noticing his torn clothes and bruises on his shoulders and cuts on his face. "We should have listened to the old Toydorian.

"Tell me about it." He said.

Dyna realised that Zack was adamant about carrying her all the way back to the ship. She decided to allow herself to sink deeper into sleep in his arms, while hoping that they would eat something when they finally did reach the ship.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Buck sat idly by in the Engineering workshop in the town of Jovin 3. He was on the entrance platform of the ship as he watched the Engineer and his droid helpers work on to the ship. Whenever the Engineer would pass by they would exchange wordless glances at each other. There was no cool nod of the head, no smile, no knowing looks, just them looking into each other's eyes briefly as he passed by to continue his work. Buck was not sure what to make of the passing stare downs. He was not sure if the Engineer was giving him the evil eye or if he, like Buck, was looking at him for the sake of looking at him.

The engineer was a short, brown Mon Khalamari with big yellow eyes that had big black pupils at their center. He wore blue overalls and a utility belt with some of the tools he needed to work. The three helper droids followed him in toe.

Buck sighed at having nothing to do. He had never felt this bored before, not as a poor boy in his home planet of Rovinia, not as a Stormtrooper and not as a Rebel.

"Rebel." He whispered to himself. The word gave him a bad taste in his mouth and sounded strange without all the spite he usually said it with. When he was a Stormtrooper, his job was to apprehend them but now he is one of them. He could not wait to save Ru' Bik so that he can kiss the Rebels goodbye and then he'd... and then he'd... Buck realised that he did not really know what he would do if he succeeded in saving Ru' Bik, if he lived through it that is.

He got up and stretched his arms out before heading for the exit. He needed to do something that would get some blood into his legs and hopefully into his brain. He stopped and looked above him. The Engineer was on a slowly rising platform, heading for partially installed cannons on the ship.

"Engineer!" Buck called up to him.

The Engineer leaned over the railings, "What?"

"I'm hungry..." Buck began before he was interrupted.

"Then go eat!" The Engineer rolled his eyes.

"I want some Jovin 3 cuisine. Any suggestions?"

"A friend of mine owns a Lichpid stand. He should be passing by right about now." The Engineer said pointing to the exit.

Buck nodded and left the hanger where the Engineer was working. The fresh air and sunlight was a welcome change from the air and more dimly lit spaceship hanger. He waited a while before a Toydarian with a stand written 'Lichpid' came rolling by. Buck waved him to a stop. He paid the man a few credits and was rewarded with a Lichpid.

The Lichpid was wrapped in brown paper. Buck cautiously peeled back the white paper to see what was inside. He had heard rumours of some alien food attacking the dinners and he did not want to be another statistic. If he had to wrestle his food, than he wanted to make sure he was prepared. He sighed in relief when nothing jumped at him. The Lichpid was a brown gravy like substance with a purple spiral-like food pieces all wrapped in a bread like substance that was chalk white.

He began walking into the hanger with his yet to be tasted treat. As he was walking he saw a blue delivery droid enter the hanger. Must be delivering part for the spaceship, he thought to himself. The delivery droid entered the hanger and he followed behind it as he had more distance to cover. When he entered the droid was already speaking to the Engineer.

"To be honest I didn't expect the delivery until tomorrow," the Engineer said as Buck was passing by the two.

Buck heard a familiar beeping noise as he passed by the droid. His mind focused on remembering what the sound reminded him off before he shrugged it off to focus on the Lichpid in his hands.

"All you have to do is sign here and we can conclude." The droid said handing the Engineer a flat transparent pad as Buck walked away.

Buck peeled more of the Lichpid's wrapping away, exposing more of the food. He took a bite and began chewing. His eyes suddenly went wide. They did not go wide in shock as the alien sour and spicy Lichpid invaded his taste buds. They went wide because he realised what the beeping reminded him of. He dropped the Lichpid and ran back to where Engineer and droid was talking. Buck leapt into the air and planted both feet in the droid, in a drop kick. As he fell onto the ground the droid flew away from the force of his kick and he quickly got up to pull the Engineer to the ground and covered him under his own body before the droid exploded. The shockwave sent the two rolling on the ground before coming to a stop.

They both rose slowly and when they were on their feet they exchanged one of their usual glances but this time their glance exchanged knowledge. They had just survived an attempt to take a life, specifically The Engineer's life.

/

Buck and the Engineer sat in the sick bay of the ship. The medical droid made sure to check on whatever injuries they had sustained during the explosion.

"It seems that both you are going to be alright." The medical droid said. "You have sustained only minor injuries and will make full recoveries in a matter of days."

Buck looked at the Engineer as he was being bandaged up. "Who's trying to kill you?" Buck asked.

The Engineer looked back at him, "How do you know someone is not trying to kill you? You guys look like shifty characters."

Buck raised an eyebrow at the question. "We do have enemies but they aren't the kind to assassinate us with a bomb. If they wanted us dead they would be here trying to kill us. So that only leaves you. Do you have any idea who may want to kill you?"

"I have a name or two. Hmpf, maybe just a single name."

"You should report it to the authorities. But leave out my involvement in it... leave out this ship in your report... you know what, just wait until we get off the planet then report it."

"Reporting my suspicions on who is behind this will not do me any good, not on this planet," The Engineer said as he was leaving. When he was at the door, he stopped and looked back at Buck. "Why did you save me? I mean you placed your life in harm's way to save someone you don't even know. Why?"

Buck could not do anything but shrug as he really did not have an answer.

"Hm... stupid." The Engineer said before leaving the ship to get back to his work. Buck could not do anything but agree with the Engineer's assessment of his actions. It seemed that something had robbed him of his sense of self preservation. It made sense with all the adventures he's been having these days.

He hung around while the Engineer did his job and the day passed by without any more noteworthy events.

/

The next day had come around. Buck sat in the spaceship hanger at a table, cleaning his blaster. He had disassembled it as far as he could and did a check of all its components before cleaning each part off with a white cloth. From where he was sitting, he could watch the Engineer and see whoever entered the hanger.

When he was done with the task he began putting his blaster together. However, halfway through the task the Engineer called to him, "Hey, you!" Buck looked up at him. The Engineer did not really know his name. Zack was the one who knew the Engineer and even then it seemed they did not know a lot about each other and Buck was satisfied with keeping things that way. The Engineer mostly referred to him as 'you' and Buck referred to him as Engineer.

Buck got up and looked at the Mon Khalamari descending in his platform.

"I need you to help me with something inside." He said wiping his grimy hands with an already dirty washcloth.

Buck looked at his half assembled weapon. He was reluctant to leave it alone but he knew he would have to. "Get one of your droids to look after my blaster."

"Okay." He said before leading the way inside the ship. "But I doubt anyone would dare steal it. Not in the current condition it's in. Where did you learn to dissemble a blaster like that?"

"You are asking many questions, _Engineer._ I hope you don't mind me asking some of my own in return."

The Engineer laughed his comment off. They reached the ship's bridge and he went 'under the hood' to make a few changes to the controls. Buck would help him by telling him systematic information of the ship, which he did not know much of. A few hours later he came out from under the hood.

"There we go. I think I'm done here... with little help from you." He said giving Buck a side long glance. "How about we test it out?"

"Really?" Buck said, exposing his excitement. "How?"

"Let's take it for a spin and find something to shoot."

"I don't know..."

"Come now. Do you think I'm going to overpower you and steal your ship?"

Buck gave the Engineer a smile before starting up the ship. The roof of the hanger opened and allowed the ship to hover past the height of the building before blasting off into the blue skies of Jovin 3. They climbed higher and further away from the town and soon were in the _greener_ parts of Jovin 3. They passed a forest of trees with pink leaves and purple flowers. It was divided in the middle by a narrow dirt path that led up to a hill where Buck thought he saw a small ship resting at the apex. They passed a herd of brown horned animals which the Engineer called, "Ramlons."

They were heading towards a rocky mountain. Buck manipulated the ship close to the mountain before shooting straight up into the sky. He dove down again and went around the mountain. "Basic systems seem to be working alright." Buck reported to the short Engineer beside him.

"Let's test the shields." The Engineer said turning the shields on.

"Shields are at a 100%" Buck confirmed once he saw the readings.

"Good. It seems like all systems are working correctly and the damage the ship sustained has been repaired." The Engineer said, sounding proud of himself. "Now, let's test the new addition, the front and rear guns."

Buck nodded and went to the newly installed weapons controls. Buck saw the controls and raised his eyebrow at his temporary co-pilot.

"What?" The Engineer asked.

"I've seen better, Targeting Systems."

"Then maybe next time you can install those better targeting systems or better yet give me the credits to install those better targeting systems."

Buck raised his hands in the air. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean...'

"Stow it and start shooting."

"Roger that!" Buck used the control stick of the weapons controls to move the target of the front gun. He aimed for a rock protruding at the side of the mountain. He pressed the red button that sat atop the control and nothing happened. Buck looked at his co-pilot.

"You hear that?" He asked.

Buck shook his head, "Heard what?"

"When you pressed the firing button there was a distinct sound of energy dispersal. There is an error with the energy path through the ship to the front gun."

You mean _you_ made an error with the energy path through the ship to the front gun, Buck thought to himself with a smile

"Test the rear gun." He said.

Buck swung the ship past the protruding rock in the took aim with the rear gun as the ship went past its target.

"Come now. We don't have all day." The Engineer egged him on. Buck pressed the trigger and a red projectile of energy shot forth from the gun and hit the rock, causing it to explode into debris.

Buck smiled, "Not bad."

"Now all I have to do is fix the front gun and we're done." The Engineer said as Buck steered the ship back to the town.

"How long will that take?"

"It should be done by tomorrow."

The journey back was as quiet as the journey out of town. They landed in the hanger. The Engineer exited the ship while Buck stayed to make sure nothing was out of place. If he missed something, it would be mostly on his head and that would not be good considering that most of his crew members were giving him the evil eye already. Once he was sure that nothing was wrong he exited the ship to find a Toydarian flying in.

"Well well well, you're still alive. I guess the rumours were wrong." The Toydarian said to the Engineer. He paid no attention to Buck who looked at him suspiciously once he spoke.

"Frodit," the Engineer said between clenched teeth. "You have a nerve showing your face here!" The Engineer was approaching the obviously unwelcomed guest with a spanner.

"Careful now." The Toydarian said producing a pistol. He did not point the weapon at the Engineer but the fact that he was holding it was enough to bring the Engineer to a halt. The two small men looked at each other with hate in their eyes.

Buck did not like how quickly this situation had escalated. He analysed the situation quickly. The pistol that the one called Frodit held was more suitable for close range targets and the Engineer was close enough for it to have a fatal effect on him. At least the pistol holder seemed to be alone, so if things came to a head, Buck still had a chance to take him out. He glanced at his gun that sat at the far corner of the room. It was useless in its current condition but he could reassemble it in at least 23 seconds, if needs be.

"What do you want, Frodit?" The Engineer said.

"You know what I want," Frodit said hovering slightly lower and closer to the Engineer.

"I'm not selling this property to you, fool! And no amount of death threats will change that."

Buck began to understand what was going on. Frodit was the one responsible for assassination attempt on The Engineer.

"Then you will die." Frodit said in a threatening tone.

"Yeah? Probably not today because if there is one thing I know about you, Frodit," the Engineer sneered, "you are too cowardly to do the dirty work yourself. You rely on droids to do what you're too scared to do."

Frodit gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his pistol. He began raising his pistol but then stopped when he noticed Buck in the room for the first time. He dropped the gun and gave smiled at the Mon Khalamari in front of him. "I'll be back," Frodit whispered before hovering away.

The Engineer and Buck exchanged glances of worry but said nothing. Buck reassembled his short rifle blaster while the Engineer focused on fixing the gun problem of the ship.

/

Buck paced around with his blaster hanging his shoulder by its strap. He made sure that he had a direct line of sight to the entrance. The morning had past and Zack, Dyna and Lona had gone out to do whatever they set out to do. Buck on the other hand stayed behind and expected Frodit to come to this place and start shooting it up. The Engineer tore his eyes away from his work and looked down at him from the top of the spaceship.

"Why do you look so worried?" The Engineer shouted from the ship's roof.

"Were you not here yesterday?" Buck asked shouting up at him. "I mean you did hear that Frodit guy threaten to kill you."

"Frodit is a coward. I doubt he'd do anything." He said as he was descending on his levitating platform. "That idiot has been trying to get me to sell this place by using every dirty tactic he could think of. It's all failed..."

Buck noticed it first. He saw the lengthening shadow at the entrance with a weak grey impression of fluttering wings. His hand rested on his blaster as Frodit flew further in the hanger, the Engineer was still talking when he was disturbed. "Is that what you think? You think I wouldn't try to kill you." Frodit appeared with the pistol in his hand. "Well, I'm here to prove you wrong!" Frodit screamed before shooting at The Engineer with his pistol.

The Engineer dodged the shots easily enough as he was far away. The platform began descending faster.

"Hey! Stop!" Buck said in a commanding tone pointing his blaster at Frodit.

However, the Toydorian did not look worried. He smiled as two things rolled in the building. The things that rolled in were brown and hollow in the middle. They were the size of Buck but then they stopped and straightened out. They stood a little taller than Buck and once they were at full height, a spherical shield appeared around them.

Buck opened his eyes when he recognised the droids in front of him. He remembered reading about them in the history records of the Empire. They Droidekas were used by Separatist armies during the Clone Wars. He shot at them but his blaster fire bounced off their activated shields. The battle droids returned fire and he ducked to avoid getting shot.

The Engineer himself was dodging Frodit's ill aimed attempts to kill him. When the platform touched ground, he ran for the entrance of Buck's ship. Buck had the same idea as he weaved and dodged the multiple laser fire from the Droidekas. The Engineer got to the entrance of the ship first and just as Buck reached it, the entrance platform withdrew into the ship before the door closed shut.

"Engineer!" Buck shouted before he had to retreat to a safer position. The droids stopped shooting and began rolling after Buck.

Frodit hovered before the closed door. "Come out, you coward!" He shouted as he put a few more shots into the door. The pistol had little effect on the door as it only scorched its surface with energy bolts.

Buck dived behind a raised structure and saw the droids stop and activate their shields. In the moment before the droids opened fire on him again, he saw that they were old droids with rusted parts. They most likely put together to be Frodit's enforcers.

He hunched down as the droids drew ever closer while shooting away the only thing separating them from him. When Buck got brave enough he would quickly return fire, hoping to get lucky. However, the shields of the droids held strong and deflected or absorbed anything that collided with them. He gritted his teeth as he realised that he was in a tough situation. He was pinned to his spot as he could not run into the open, not with two droids firing at him. It would be suicide!

A whole was blasted through his hiding place and he knew that if something miraculous did not happen, he would die here. He saw the front gun of the ship point towards the droids before it fired a shot. There was an explosion that engulfed both droids in a temporary fire which was followed by black smoke.

Buck slowly got up and smiled at the smoke that marked the demise of the two droids that had been firing at him only a moment ago. He had done it; the Engineer had fixed the front gun and used it to destroy the Droidekas. But to his horror, he heard clanking footsteps as one of the droids emerged from the smoke. Its shield would flicker on and off and sparks would sometimes spray out of its side as its movement became less smooth and glitchy. The droid had survived but not unscathed.

Buck shot at the droid but at that very moment its shield flickered on and stayed on, absorbing his shot. He did not have the chance to voice out his frustration as he began running to avoid the counter fire from the droid. The droid changed into a man-sized wheel to roll after him again. It was quickly catching up and Buck ducked behind a section of the ship and the droid stopped and began firing.

Buck hid and the wheels in his head began turning in an attempt to figure out a way to defeat the droid? It has a shield that made his blaster useless and quick fire blasters attached to it. With a good sprint and some luck, he could dodge its targeting system. He could use this knowledge to run and dodge the droid, however he knew If he was to live, he would have to win. He groaned in frustration as he realised he had to find a way to get past that shield! He reviewed his options to get past the shield. I could get close to it and bypass the shield but I'd probably be blown halfway to it, he thought to himself. He began to grin as he got an idea.

Buck bent his legs and took three quick breaths before he sprinted out from his hiding place, away from the droid. The droid shot at him but he was able to stay ahead and put some distance between them. The droid formed a wheel and rolled after him and it was at that moment that Buck stopped and turned around. He had figured out that as long as the droid was rolling, its shield generator was off. He madly shot at the droid and after three shots it exploded. Raising his hands, he shielded himself from the debris, which was all that was left of his vanquished foe.

"Get out here!" Frodit screamed as he fired three more times at the door, adding three more scorch marks. He heard something beside him but by then it was too late as Buck tackled him hard onto the floor. His pistol skipped away from his hand. "What..." Frodit was disrupted when Buck shoved the barrel of his gun into his mouth.

"Listen to me you punk. The Engineer is my friend and if you so much look at him the wrong, I will blow you away. Understand?" When Frodit nodded, Buck got off him and allowed him to weakly flutter away.

A few minutes later the Engineer came out of the ship to find Buck sitting on the floor, waiting for him. "Why did you lock me out?" Buck said once he walked out.

"I was not locking you out. I was locking the droids out."

"With me!" Buck said outraged.

"You survived didn't you."

Buck sighed. "At least you fixed the front gun."

/

Buck and the Engineer were standing at the entrance of the building. They were watching the sun as it sank behind the horizon.

"My crew should be coming back any moment." Buck said leaning against the giant frame of the hanger entrance.

"Then you can all get out of my hair!" The Engineer said to the taller human.

Buck chuckled because Mon Khalamari typically had no hair.

"I don't know what you guys are up to but I wish you good luck." The Engineer said.

"I bet you don't say that to everyone who passes by. And I bet you won't be saying that to anyone who'll come by in the future." Buck said merrily.

"There won't be anymore people coming by here to see me."

Buck looked at the shorter man. "You're quitting? Don't tell me that Frodit guy got you scared."

"Pish posh! That weakling couldn't scare an ant. No. A few years ago I began developing a ship... it was going to be the fastest in the galaxy. I had to stop because I ran out of credits. . I want to continue my work."

"I don't think we've paid you enough for you to build the ship you're describing."

"You haven't!"

"You have no money and yet you want to build the fastest ship in the galaxy. Sounds like the only way you could pull that off is if you were situated in a remote ship graveyard." Buck said jokingly.

"That's actually a good idea!" The Engineer said.

"Well... good luck with that, Engineer." Buck said offering his hand.

The Engineer walked closer to him and reached up to take Buck's hand in his. "Call me Quarrie."

Buck smiled, "You can call me Buck Johnson."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Buck waited patiently for the rest of his crew members to show up. Lona had gone out on a supply run for weapons while Zack ad Dyna went... he did not exactly know where Zack and Dyna went, he knew it had something to do with Zack's lightsaber. He watched the orange sky as the sun set and night time quickly approaching. From the horizon he saw a small ship coming closer to the hanger. Initially, he thought that it would pass overhead but to his surprise it landed right in front of the building he was waiting in. His hand drifted to the holster in anticipation of who he may see emerge from the unknown vessel. To his surprise and relief, Lona walked out of the ship.

"Where did you get that?" Buck said mildly bewildered.

"It's just something I picked up." She said smiling, liking stumbling upon a space fairing ship was a common thing to happen. "The weapons I bought are in there."

Buck could not help being impressed. She went out for guns and she brought back a freaking spaceship!

"Now we wait for..."

"Don't bother waiting, Trooper!" Zack said walking in the building hanger. He had bruises and his clothes were dirty, like he had been in a fight. Dyna walked in after him, looking none the better. Buck almost ran to her but stopped in his tracks when Lona ran for her instead.

Lona bent over fussing over the little orange Twi'Lek girl. "What happened to you two?" She said looking at Zack accusingly.

"A little scuffle with a Ramlon," Zack said casually. "To be honest, Dyna got the worst of it."

"So is this what we should expect whenever you two go out together?" Buck said, holding back his anger.

"Hey, we're still alive aren't we?" Zack said, keeping his anger equally in check. "I wanted to carry the kid but she didn't want to seem weak in front of you guys."

"I'm fine!" Dyna said, pushing Lona away from her and walking towards the ship. "Are we going or what?"

Zack smiled as the girl began walking for their ship. Zack, Lona and Dyna noticed something different about the ship the closer they got to it. The ship was still primarily white with purple making some of its exterior but there were two different things about it. It now had a gun mounted to the front and a smaller one at the back. In addition to the guns, it had big, black block Basic letters spelling 'Diversity' on the side.

"Diversity?" Zack questioned.

"I thought it was... fitting, with us being the diverse crew and all." Buck said.

"I like it." Lona said.

"Well I think you shouldn't have named a ship that does not belong to only you." Zack said.

The crew of the newly christened _Diversity_ paid the Engineer what they owed him before leaving ofr space. Buck, Zack and Dyna were in the _Diversity_ while Lona was in the smaller ship which sshe had acquired, which Dyna had named _Lona's Room._ While out of the atmosphere, they connected the two ships ad blasted off to their next location.

/

Saza was being led to a room in the ship by one of her Stormtroopers. The door opened and the Stormtrooper stepped aside to let her in and stood outside as guard while the door closed behind after Saza had entered. As soon as the door slid close, the hallway light was closed off, leaving the room she had just entered dimly lit. However, that did not last long as a hologram activated from the center of the room which showered the room in a blue light. The hologram was of the Grand Inquisitor with a white bald head with a black suit of armour. His yellow, predatory eyes peered at Saza, as if they could see into her dark soul.

"Grand Inquisitor," Saza said bowing.

The Inquisitor nodded in acknowledgment. "Inquisitor Ripper. I believe congratulations are in order. I've heard that you've shut down a rebel cell on Cirasso."

"Yes, I have captured one of them for questioning." Saza said. "I'm hoping he may know something about the Jedi I'm pursuing. I guess I'll only find out if I question him... harshly."

The Inquisitor was visibly surprised at the news that Saza had left an enemy alive... on purpose. "I believe I may have... _someone_ more qualified to handle the questioning."

Saza was visibly annoyed by the Inquisitors suggestion. "Sir, I can handle the questioning myself."

The Inquisitor looked amused by her claim, if he ever laughed it would have been at that very moment but he settled for a sharp toothed smile. "I think not. You have a habit of getting carried away. This is why your peers are better than you. You lack self-control. If it was any other inquisitor, then I would have left them to their business but because it's you..." The Inquisitor only sneered to complete his sentence.

"Who will you be sending, sir?" Saza said straining to keep the anger from her voice.

"Lord Vader has a specialist in this subject that may be of use to your cause."

Saza's eyes went wide at the mention of Darth Vader. Only a few individuals in the galaxy knew that he was one of the people who destroyed the Jedi. She had only met him a handful of times and although she did not like being around him, she did love studying him and learning as much as she could from how he acted, how he carried himself and how he used The Force. "Will Lord Vader be coming with?"

"No."

Saza was both disappointed and relieved to hear that Vader was not going to be coming along. She bowed to the hologram transmission of The Inquisitor, "I will be waiting, Grand Inquisitor."

And with that the hologram disappeared, leaving the room in the dim darkness. Saza closed her eyes, thinking about the conversation she had just had with her superior. She stayed a little longer, alone n the dark room.

/

The crew of _The Diversity_ were holding a war meeting on a round dining table. Dyna walked in and saw the three adults assembled.

"What's going on here?" She asked.

"We're having a meeting." Buck told her.

She smiled and pulled out a chair, sitting in between Buck and Lona in the round table. "Great, what are we talking about."

"Nothing that concerns you," Zack said.

"Oh come on!" Dyna whined. "I can understand strategic stuff."

"We know you do." Zack said. "That's why we don't want you here."

"How about you have dinner and leave us to our meeting?" Lona said in a soft voice.

Dyna's face lit up. She tried to replace her happy face with a serious one but it was too late as they had all seen her happy. "Fine, "she said in a serious tone, "but only this one time." She picked out rations that should be too big for a Twi'Lek her age and left the room, with the door sliding shut behind her.

"Let's get down to business." Buck said once Dyna was gone.

"We know that Ru' Bik will be transported to the prison world called, Ekad." Zack said pushing a holo-disk to the center of the table. A hologram of the small prison planet appeared. "Because he is a high level prisoner, they won't be transporting him with the normal prison transport."

Buck raised an eyebrow at this. "What will they be transporting him in?"

"A Star Destroyer," Zack said as the image of the holo-disk changed into a hologram of a triangular Star Destroyer.

Buck involuntarily moaned. He had once served on a Star Destroyer with Canoe. He remembered feeling sorry for whichever idiots would have to go up against it. Turns out that this time, he was the idiot he felt sorry for. "How are we going to rescue Ru' Bik from a Star Destroyer?"

"We'll have to board the ship and free Ru' Bik." Zack said.

"How are we going to get past its defences?" Buck said. "Our little front and rear guns won't be enough to even threaten something like that."

"Well, thanks to the information on this disk, we do have the ship's flight path." Zack said as a space route replaced the Star Destroyer hologram. "In twenty seven standard hours the ship will be passing by this spot," Zack said pointing to a spot on the route. "It will be pretty close to Ekad by that time, so I'm hoping they'll have let their guard down a little. I think we should hyperspace right on top of the ship, detach the smaller cruiser on the _Diversity_ and use it to board the Star Destroyer."

"That sounds like a fairytale plan! The routes highlighted on the map are rough approximations and hyperspacing close to the Star Destroyer needs exact precision. We come out of hyperspace too close, we'll crash into the ship and die. If we come out of hyperspace too far away, then we run the risk of getting immediately shot down and die." Buck said. "Do we have equipment that is capable of such precision?"

"No we don't." Lona said.

"We don't need any equipment. I can use The Force to make our exit out of hyperspace precise." Zack said.

Buck raised his eyebrow at that. "Really? We're going to trust in some hocus pocus to do this. You're joking right? Lona, tell me his joking."

"Uhm..." Lona made a sound with her mouth looking uncertainly at Zack.

"I can do it," Zack told her reassuringly to Lona. "The only way we'll be able to do this is with The Force."

"I can't believe this." Buck said. "Fine, if we get as far as boarding the ship, which I now highly doubt we will, who will be going in to save Ru'Bik and who'll man the _Diversity_?"

"Well, it's clear that Dyna will be on the ship, so now we need another member to stay in the ship along with her." Lona said.

"Well, _I_ can't stay behind. I know a Star Destroyer better than anyone here. I have to go." Buck said.

"Well, then I guess it will be you and me." Zack said.

"What?" Lona said. "No, I think I should go because we'll need a good pilot to fly the ship. Zack, you're a better pilot than me. So you have to stay, I'll go."

"Come on Lona, it's going to be dangerous." Zack said.

"And I guess I haven't faced danger at all since I've been a Rebel." Lona said.

"That's not what I mean..."

"I can handle myself!" Lona interjected.

"Uhm... this looks like something you both need to talk about, "Buck said standing up, "I'll leave you to it." He quickly left while the two continued arguing.

"If you think I'll mess up then why am I even part of the plan?" Lona asked.

"That's not what I think of you." Zack said.

"Then what do you think of me, Zack?" Lona said. "Cause right now I think you think I'm incompetent."

"I don't!" Zack defended himself. "You're strong, resourceful and smart..."

"If you believed those things then you would have no problem with letting me go." Lona said.

"I don't! I just... I just..."

"What, Zack?" Lona asked.

"I don't want you to be in danger, okay! I want you to be safe."

Lona sighed, "You can't protect me from everything, Zack." She said sitting down on the table beside Zack.

Zack smiled. "I can try, can't I?"

/

Canoe waited on the port for the incoming ship to land. Apparently it had some important personnel that would help them with questioning the rebel prisoner they had captured . He sighed in his helmet. The time spent on Cirasso seemed to drag on to eternity, which did not help ease his hatred of the planet. He just wished that he could be away from the place, away from the squadron and back to his normal duties.

A ship came out of the gathering grey clouds and landed on the port. Saza emerged from behind him with her ginger hair fluttering in the gust caused by the landing ship. She folded her arms and waited as the ship came to a complete stand still. Canoe grasped the gun in his hands more tightly and stood straighter. He could not help discreetly check out her slender figure while she stood there, waiting.

"Something on your mind, Lieutenant Ida?" Saza asked without looking at him.

Canoe's heart quickened its beating. He cleared his throat before trying to sound calm. "Do you know who the Empire is sending over, ma'am?"

"Apparently they're sending over a specialist. Not sure who but I can guaranteed it's someone highly qualified." Saza said, smiling like she knew something he did not.

The ship's door opened into a ramp. Steam rushed forward, shrouding the humanoid figure that stood in the doorway. It began walking forward, down the ramp and out of the white steam. Its movement gave it away as a droid. It was a 3PO unit droid with a silver outer shell and red lit eyes. When it got down the ramp it stood before Saza and Canoe.

"Hello..." The droid said offering it's hand.

"Droid, who do you serve?" Saza asked ignoring its hand. "Where is your master?"

"My master is Darth Vader." The droid said.

"No," Saza said to herself quietly. She looked at the droid with an annoyed look on her face, "Don't tell me that your the interrogation expert they sent."

"Yes I am. I am 0-0-0 or as some call me, Triple Zero. I am a protocol droid, specialising in etiquette, customs, translations and torture." The droid replied, moving its hand closer to Saza in an attempt to urge her to shake hands.

"They sent me a droid!" Saza was visibly seething.

"Oh, I take it you're Inquisitor Ripper." The droid said quickly putting its hand away.

Saza turned her back on the droid as she marched away. "Lieutenant! Take the droid to the prisoner so that it may begin its questioning!"

Triple Zero turned to Canoe. "Follow me, Triple Zero, is it?" Canoe was secretly amused by the whole situation.

"Yes it is, thank you, Lieutenant." The droid said as it followed Canoe. "And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

"Canoe Ida or as some call me Lieutenant Ida." Canoe said, mocking the droid.

/

Buck and Dyna were in the ship named _Lona's Room_. Buck was showing Dyna how to fly the ship as she would be the one who will be in it in the early parts of the plan. Zack was in the other room of the ship, double checking all the ship's system.

"Now this is the throttle," Buck said, "by nudging it forward, you'll make the ship accelerate." Buck kept talking and pointing at the parts of the controls he was talking about. He looked and saw that Dyna was not really focusing on what he was saying. Instead she held her hand out at a biscuit ration and was focusing on it, intensely. "Dyna, concentrate here!" He said startling her out of her focused state. "What I'm teaching you is important! The Force won't help you fly this ship."

Dyna looked angry and looked at the controls.

"Will you focus, please." Buck said in a serious tone.

Zack popped out of the room he had been in. "Geez Buck, take it easy on the kid."

"I can't take it easy. This is a matter of life and death ."

"Take a break kid." Zack said patting her on the back. Dyna got up and took her biscuit before she walked out of the room into the bigger ship.

"We don't have much time left, Zack. She can't be taking breaks." Buck said turning a few switches off.

"This is not about Dyna. You're worried, Trooper. The whole 'The Force won't help you fly this ship' thing was aimed at me, wasn't it?" Zack said leaning on the wall behind him. He was currently standing behind Buck, who was busy with the controls in front of him... or at least pretending to be.  
"You don't think I can exit hyperspace at the right time."

"No, I don't. I think we'll be killed immediately if we leave this up to you and _The Force_."

"But you're still going along with it."

"Because I don't have a choice. I have to do this."

"No, Buck, you do have a choice. You can stay here with Dyna while I do the men's work." Zack said turning around to leave. "I don't want your lack of faith jinxing me."

"Your mistaken, Zack. You and Lona are the ones who have a choice" Buck said causing Zack to stop. Buck turned around in the chair to look at Zack with a side glance. "You and Lona didn't kill Ru' Bik's wife; you didn't help get him arrested. You don't have anything on your conscience and you don't owe him anything. You both can leave now, with Dyna and _The Diversity_ and... I don't know, live a normal life or train her to be a Jedi or a Rebel. You don't have to risk your lives. You can leave me to do it alone now, and I won't judge or think any less of you."

"Your wrong, Buck. We do owe Ru' Bik a lot. He helped us, all the Rebels, and yet we left him and his family for dead. We need to correct that." Zack said. "As for you, you're a Stormtrooper, arresting and harassing people for their faith in freedom is what we expect of you. You were just doing your job, as despicable as it may be. So _you_ don't have to do this. You can leave now and we won't think any less of you, well that's partly because at this point it would be impossible for any of us to think any less of you but you get the idea."

Buck gave a short humourless laugh. "How does me offering you a way out turn to you offering me a way out?"

Zack shrugged. "I guess we're all in this till the end." Zack said offering his hand.

Buck smiled and took it in his, "Till the end."

/

The Stormtroopers had forcefully commandeered a building for which they would conduct the remainder of their affairs. The clouds that had gathered during the day had broken, showering the town of Tanik in light constant rain accompanied with the occasional lightening. Canoe was lying in his bed in one of the rooms. The rain pelted the window outside while he tossed and turned.

"I really hate this place." He whispered to himself with his eyes shut, trying to get to sleep before his guarding shift began. He suddenly felt like he was being watched. He opened his eyes and saw a figure in his room. Lightning struck, briefly showering his room in white light and illuminating Saza. "Inquisitor Ripper?" Canoe said sitting up and exposing his chest to the cool air. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe you can." She said approaching his bed. "We seem to be having the same problem," Saza said crawling on the bed and over his body forcing him to lie back, "we both can't seem to sleep." Her face was now inches away from his. "Why can't you sleep?"

"I don't know." Canoe said, drinking in her beautiful face with his eyes. His head was trapped in between her ginger hair, which was of a more intense shade than his. He saw the nearly microscopic freckles, that could only be seen if one was this close to her which contrasted to his own, easily noticeably freckled face. His hazel eyes met her blue ones and he suddenly felt compelled to answer her question in greater detail. "I guess I'm uncomfortable."

"Hmm... really. I guess we don't have the same reason."

"What's your reason?" Canoe heard the words tumble out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"My victims. They haunt me from beyond the grave. I guess their vengeance is robbing me of sleep on the occasional night like tonight." She said before she began leaning in closer and her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. "But think I may have a way to remedy both our problems."

In excitement, Canoe involuntarily raised his hand and it brushed against something hanging from the side of Saza's hip, something that reminded him of a few nights ago when he was running away from a psycho with a red lightsaber, a psycho whose lips were now centimeters from his. He leaned back which caused her to stop her advancing lips. "Do you carry that everywhere you go?" His eyes glanced down at her lightsaber.

She followed his line of sight down to her own lightsaber, hanging from her hip. She smiled at the ruined moment and withdrew from him and got off the bed. "My lightsaber is my life," she said grasping her lightsaber to assure herself. "It will be on me as long as I'm breathing and if I want to remain that way."

Saza's wrist communicator lit up and a voice came from it. "Inquisitor Ripper, this is Cadet Winslow, I as looking for you in you're..."

"I'm in Lieutenant Ida's sleeping quarters." She said looking mischievously at Canoe.

Canoe's eyes went wide with shock. He didn't expect her to tell anyone about this encounter. Although, Saza was still well dressed, he was still only in his underwear, under the sheets. He got out of bed and quickly tried to put on his uniform. Saza did not look worried as he hopped around trying to put his pants on. She switched on the light source of the room. Winslow came in and saw Canoe only half dressed. He cleared his throat before addressing Saza.

"Ma'am, Triple Zero has broken down the prisoner and has gotten him to talk." Winslow said.

"Good, lead the way." Saza said. She looked back at Canoe one last time and smiled before she left his room.

/

Saza stopped by Triple Zero who was standing at the entrance of the torture room that it had used to interrogate the Vultan Rebel prisoner.

"Inquisitor Ripper, I was able to retrieve important information from the prisoner." Triple Zero said.

"Good," Saza said. "Give me your report."

"This Vultan was working directly under this Rebel cell's leader called Kisto." Triple Zero said. "They helped a Rebel with the following physical features: long black hair, green eyes, fair skin and human. They helped the human by giving him a holo-disk with prisoner transport information on one Ru' Bik."

"Really?" Saza said. "And what are they going to do with this information?"

"They plan to _spring_ him out." Triple Zero said. "Oh dear, I so love speaking the street lingo."

Saza remained silent as she thought about the new information. "I guess your job is done, Triple Zero. You may return to your master first thing tomorrow."

"Well, ma'am, I was hoping that you would allow me to finish the prisoner off." Triple Zero said sounding excited.

Saza looked at the droid as its red lit eyes gleamed evilly. She gave it an equally ,if not more so, evil smile. "I guess you've earned it. Just make the rebel's death... interesting."

"I always do, ma'am." Triple Zero said before walking into the holding area of the prisoner. Screams of the prisoner erupted from the room as Triple Zero finished the prisoner off.

/

"Lona." Zack softly called out from outside of Lona's room.

The door slid open, to reveal Lona with all her braids down. "Oh, hey." She said as she moved her braids out of her face.

"Getting ready?"

"Yeah, uhm... do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Zack said as he walked past Lona into her room. He sat on her bed and she sat beside him.

"What's wrong? You look worried." She asked.

"Buck's talk of seriousness has made me a little off-balanced." He said. "I think the only way to fix that is to fix things between us."

Lona's eyebrow shot up. "I didn't know there was anything that needed to be fixed between us."

"Well our relationship is not broken but... it is poorly defined. What are we exactly? Are we just friends, business partners? Are we more? I mean, it seems that there is no reason for you stay by my side."

"When we first met, I thought we could be more than friends and for a while, I think we were. Then this whole, Empire-Rebellion thing fell on us and either I or you drew away from the relationship."

"I think it was me." Zack said. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't be. Things just happened so fast." Lona said shifting closer to him and putting her hand on his. "You asked why I stay by your side? Because ever since I met you, it's been you and me vs. the galaxy, no matter how our relationship changes."

"Well, I'm thinking of changing it now." Zack said bringing his face closer to hers.

She leaned forward and they kissed.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Buck and Dyna walked around looking for Zack and Lona. They had disappeared for a long time and they had to begin preparing for the operation. Buck decided to look for Lona in her room because out of Zack and her, he could stand her better. Just as he and Dyna were about to knock on her door, it slid open to reveal Zack. Both Buck and Zack were startled to see each other.

"Zack?" Buck said as Dyna quickly joined Buck.

"Buck! Dyna. I was just talking to Lona." He said nodding behind him to Lona, who was dressed in a nightdress. She looked down to the ground, even her ebony skin could not hide the fact that she was blushing.

"Talking? Riiiight." Buck said, noting Zack's messy hair.

"Ooooo, I bet I know what they were talking about." Dyna said, almost giggling.

"Oh, you know nothing kid!" Zack said.

"Anyways, we're a few hours away from getting this thing started, so I suggest we all prepare." Buck said. "Come on, Dyna. I want to go over flying the ship again." Buck said which caused Dyna to whine and complain.

Zack looked back at Lona and smiled. They shared a short kiss before he left.

/

The crew of _The Diversity_ had gathered at the entrance of _Lona's Room,_ where the two ships were connected. Buck had on his Stormtrooper armour. Zack had on a blue jacket that was not fully zipped up, revealing the black shirt beneath. He finished the look with black pants. Lona wore her brown leather jacket with a black turtle neck underneath and black pants with a holster strapped to her hip. Buck stood back as Lona and Zack said their goodbyes to the Twi'Lek girl. When it was his turn he walked forward and smiled at the girl. He kneeled down to his knee so that he could be at eye level with her.

"So you have your blaster ready?" He asked which prompted her to take out the gun out from the makeshift holster that was strapped behind her. Buck smiled at her quick response. "And what do you do if you see shady character."

"I shoot him through the head!" She said.

Buck smiled and patted her on the head before getting up to his feet. She re-holstered the blaster behind her. Dyna backed away. She walked back to Lona's room, looking at the three smiling human faces. "May the Force be with you, all of you." Dyna said before she pressed the button on the side of the wall, which caused a door to slide shut. They waited until they heard the sound of _Lona's Room_ detaching and jet away. They all began walking to the control room except for Buck who went to the smaller ship, mounted on _The Diversity._

Lona and Zack got into the control room and sat at the two pilot seats, with Zack as pilot and Lona as co-pilot.

"You ready?" She asked.

"I hope so." Zack answered. "Entering hyperspace... now!" The stars began to blur into long lines as the ship shot into the darkness of space, leaving the smaller ship that Dyna was in behind.

/

The _Razmass_ was a Star Destroyer with over a hundred highly skilled crew members. Its mission was to deliver fifty dangerous criminals to the prison planet, Ekadi. The man in charge of the ship was one, Admiral John Soot. He was a newly appointed Admiral with a spotless record, serving the Empire. He had seen his fair share of battle but jumped at the opportunity of leaving the hazardous task of chasing down Rebels for an easy job of transporting them and other criminals the Empire wanted to lock away on a prison planet. However, this prisoner transportation was not going to be like all the others.

"Sir, there's a ship approaching from hyperspace." One of the men in the control room informed the Admiral.

The Admiral got up from his chair and walked forward to look out to space from the window in the control deck. "What is its identity?"

"Unknown, sir."

The Admiral grumbled to himself. "As soon as it exits hyperspace, train our guns on it."

Meanwhile, Zack and Lona were in the control room as they sped through to their destination. Buck sat in the smaller ship and looked out. He could only see the blue hue caused by travelling in hyperspace. His leg shook nervously, as he did not want their ship to crash into the Star Destroyer and end their mission before it began.

The control room of the Star Destroyer, everyone was growing nervous as they realised that the incoming ship had not made any attempt to exit hyperspace. "Sir, they don't seem to be making their jump out of hyperspace."

The Admiral gritted his teeth. "Raise the shields!"

"They won't cover the whole ship in time, sir!" One of the other crew members said.

Lona was starting to feel nervous too. She glanced over at Zack who had a stern look on his face. She could not tell if he was as worried as she was. Zack was in intense concentration. He was trying to tune in into the Force, hoping that it would tell him when to stop. A drop of sweat fell from his brow as he realised that he did not feel anything. Nothing! If he did not do something, they would all die and it would be his fault. Had the Foce abandoned him? Was he wrong about his ability? Suddenly, he felt something. It was a small feeling at first but then it began growing exponentially. Soon the feeling was overwhelming and it seemed to scream one thing, "STOP!"

Zack put the ship out of hyperspace and it appeared just inches above the _Razmass_. Everyone, from Buck in the smaller ship to the Admiral in the control room, breathed a sigh of relief. Zack quickly got up and ran for the smaller ship where Buck was waiting while Lona took over the pilot chair. The communication instruments lit up and the Admiral's image appeared above the dashboard of the ship.

"Identify yourself ship?" The Admiral Soot said.

Lona kept quiet and instead prepared to make another jump into hyperspace and away from the ship. Zack ran through the hall and climbed up the smaller ship to join Buck in there. The smaller ship was totally purple as it rested and was a part of the purple section of _The Diversity._

"Identify yourself or we will shoot you down in three seconds!" The Admiral said.

Zack got in and he and Buck detached the smaller ship and let it fall to the side.

"Lona, get moving!" Zack shouted into his communicator.

The engines roared to life as the ship sped forward. Laser fire tried to shoot the _Diversity_ but Lona kept it ahead of the gunfire, dodging the laser bolts

. The forward and rear guns were trained on the Destroyer and began shooting at it. The rebel ship, which was small compared to the _Razmass_ did little damage as by this time, the Destroyer had its shields well activated.

"The ship is hostile! Send out TIE fighters to apprehend it!" The Admiral shouted out.

On cue, two TIE fighters exited the launch pad of the Razmass to pursue.

"Lona, get out of here!" Zack ordered again as their ship bypassed the Destroyer's shield..

Lona saw the two TIE fighters approaching and gritted her teeth. "But I need to buy you guys more time."

"You've brought us enough! Go!" Zack repeated.

"I agree with Zack, Lona." Buck said into the smaller ships communicator. "You need to go."

Lona relented and prepared the ship to jump into hyperspace. Just as the two TIE fighters were reaching her, _The Diversity_ disappeared into hyperspace and away from them.

Zack and Buck floated in space for a while. Their small ship had not been noticed yet, which allowed them to land it on the side of the much bigger Star Destroyer. The first part of the plan had been successful and now the second part began, they had to board the ship.

/

 _The Diversity_ exited hyperspace, where _Lona's Room_ was. The bigger ship hovered towards the smaller one before they connected. Dyna ran from the smaller ship into the bigger one. She entered the hanger where she saw Lona, who she gratefully hugged.

"You guys did it!" She said.

"Only the first part. The mission is not over yet." Lona said.

"Can't we contact Buck and Zack?" Dyna said. "Ask them if they're okay."

"No," Lona said looking at the communication panel of the ship. "We have to keep radio silence on our side. They have to contact us."

/

A shaft of green light penetrated the wall of the _Razmass_ and it retreated back into the wall as quickly as it appeared. There were whispers coming out of the other side of the newly created hole. They were arguing on whether there was no one on the other side. In their argument a few incidents of name calling happened before they finally calmed down and decided to move forward with the plan. The green shaft of light came out of the wall again and slowly traced a big imperfect circle around the first small hole made. The section of the wall fell out onto the ground and out walked a Stromtrooper and a man with long hair and a green lightsaber.

"That's going to be quickly noticed," Buck said looking as the circular cut out section of the wall lying on the floor.

"Don't worry," Zack said. He deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to his hip. Zack thrust his hands out towards the piece of the wall. It began to slowly levitate and floated to the hole in the wall. It slowly fitted into place like a puzzle piece completing a picture, the picturfe in this case being the grey wall.

"Nice trick. Let's hope it will fool everyone for long enough." Buck said.

Zack nodded. "Let's get moving."

They both ran off into the other areas of the ship.

"Racer 2 to Diversity _,_ come in please." Buck said into his communicator.

"This is Diversity," Lona's voice came through from the other side of his communicator, "reading you loud and clear."

"We have infiltrated the moving cage." Buck said.

"Good... where is Racer 1?" Lona asked.

Although no one could see it, Buck rolled his eyes in his helmet. "His alive and well."

"Hello, Diversity." Zack said leaning into Buck's communicator.

"We are commencing with phase two of the plan: finding The Egg. Over and out." Buck said putting the communicator away.

They had to stop and hide as a few Troopers walked by. They continued to sneak on through the base making their way to the holding cells of the ship. Buck led the way while Zack followed behind.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Zack heard someone say from behind him. Zack looked and saw that Buck had disappeared somewhere ahead of him. He slowly turned around to see a Stormtrooper pointing his blaster at him. He had been spotted!

Zack slowly reached for his lightsaber.

"I asked you a question," The Stormtrooper said, shaking his blaster at him.

"Oh there you are!" Someone said from behind them and to Zack's relief there was another Stormtrooper with a helmet on but he recognised the somewhat distorted voice. "I'm sorry officer, he's my responsibility." Buck said grabbing Zack's arms and pretending to handcuff him.

The Stormtrooper lowered his blaster. "Who is he?"

"Unprocessed prisoner." Buck said. "He was a last minute addition."

"Oh. One of those, huh?" The Stormtrooper said approaching Zack and looking at him in the face. "Don't worry, Ekadi will break you down, criminal scum!"

Buck roughly pushed Zack forward and nodded at the Stromtrooper as he left.

"You seem to have enjoyed that." Zack said to Buck once they were away from the Stormtrooper.

"How would you know, you can't even see my face." Buck said sounding smug. "And anyways, this is a better way for us to move to the holding cells. Better than sneaking around like some... Night Sisters."

They got to the prison area where there were two Stormtroopers standing guard. Just behind the Stormtroopers were white double sliding doors that led to the wider area where the prisoners of the ship were being held. There was a security keypad that stood just to the side of them. "Who the hell are you guys?" One of the Stormtroopers said upon seeing the two rebels.

"I have an unprocessed prisoner here." Buck said nodding towards Zack who still pretended to be handcuffed.

"All prisoners are accounted for! And why is your prisoner not in the detainee uniform!" The Stormtrooper said.

"Call command and report this." The other Stormtrooper said.

The same thought ran through both of Buck's and Zack's minds. They could not allow these two to contact the ship's head or they will not be able to escape. They reacted almost at the same time. Zack ignited his lightaber prompting one of the guards to shoot at him but he parried the shot away and cut the guard down horizontally. Buck shot the other Stormtrooper through the head before he could do anything.

"That was close." Zack said looking at the two dead bodies before him. "You okay?" Zack asked when he saw Buck looking at the bodies.

Many thoughts were running through Buck's mind when he saw the dead troopers. These men were his comrades not too long ago and now he was killing them. It was then that he came to realise that his former life was really over and that thought terrified him.

"Buck! Get your head in the game!" Zack said.

Buck snapped out of his deep thought. "Uhm... I'm okay."

"You better be because if you lose focus, you'll get us both killed." Zack scolded. "Make sure it doesn't happen again, Trooper."

Buck nodded.

"Let's look for the target shall we?" Zack said walking up to the keypad that was responsible for opening and closing the double doors. "What are the codes to opening this door?"

Buck stepped in and began typing in. "We should go to the holding area's data center to get the exact cell Ru' Bik is in."

"That sounds like too much work." Zack said. "It would be easier to just look for him." The doors slid open once Buck entered the full code into the keypad and revealed four floors with each level having over fifty cells. "I think you were right about the Data center thing. I'll look through the cells, maybe I can luck out and find Ru' Bik. In the meantime, you should go to the data center and try to make my search easier."

Buck nodded before running off. Zack stepped into the huge room. He ran past the cells on one side, pausing only to peer into them hoping to see Ru' Bik. However, eight cells down and he did not see the Vultan, instead he saw prisoners he did not know.

He decided to take this chance to contact Lona while looking through the cells. "Racer 1 to Diversity, come in."

"Racer 1, thank goodness!" Lona's voice said from the other side. "How are things going, Racer 1?"

"I'm currently in the holding area looking for Ru' Bik's cell..."

While Zack updated Lona, Buck ran to the data center. He opened the door to the dark room. The computer was sitting idly by and he began typing in it, looking for Ru' Bik's cell number. He thought it strange that the data center was unmanned but ignored it as he sort to accomplish the task at hand. When he got Ru Bik's cell number he contacted Zack.

"Racer 2 to Racer 1, come in." Buck said, exiting the room to join Zack.

"Yes, Racer 2." Zack said.

"The egg is in cell W-34." Buck said in code.

"Got it!" Zack said as he ran for the cell number. The letters went from Z to Y and so on until he got to the Ws. "Racer 1 to Diversity, come in."

"Racer1, did you find him?" Lona answered.

"Yes, Racer 2 came through. We have his cell num..."

/

In _The Diversity_ Lona was listening to Zack's transmission until it was cut off and replaced by static. "Racer 1? Racer 1, come in!" Lona said into the communicator but only got static as an answer. She and Dyna exchanged nervous looks. "Racer 2, come in," Lona said, trying to contact Buck. Once again there was no response.

"What's going on?" Dyna asked.

"Our signal is being scrambled. I think they're on to us."

"What do we do?" Dyna asked the panic clear in her voice.

Lona kneeled down to Dyna's eye level and squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. "You're going to go back to _Lona's Room_ and I'm going to go help them."

"No, I want to help..."

"No Dyna, you'll only get in the way." Lona said. "Just trust me, I'll bring them back."

Dyna reluctantly agreed and left for _Lona's Room._

/

"Diversity? Diversity, come in?" Zack said as he was running to Ru' Bik's cell. He had lost contact with Lona and all he could hear was static. A cell door opened in front of him and out walked a Stormtrooper with his gun aimed at him. Another door opened behind him and there was another Stormtrooper.

Zack activated his lightsaber, preparing for a fight.

Buck was running back to the holding area entrance until he saw a large group of Stormtroopers marching there. Buck stopped as he realised that they were heading for Zack. Zack was in immediate danger. He remembered that in the holding areas there were two exits. He would have to open the other exit at the other side of the holding area to help Buck escape. Buck began making his way to the other side of the holding area.

/

Canoe was walking along the hallways of the _Razmass_ when he received the signal that the Stormtroopers were to spring their well planned trap on the unsuspecting Rebels that had infiltrated the ship. He and a bunch of other Stormtroopers headed for the main entrance of the holding area. On the way to the holding area, another Trooper appeared from the far end. He was sprinting but as soon as he saw the other group of Stormtroopers, he began to jog. Canoe noted the trooper's armour: the dents, the scratches, the marks. He knew that armour! He stepped out of formation of the other troopers and stood in the path of the trooper heading in the opposite direction from them. The trooper stopped and they stared at each other, knowingly.

While Canoe and the other Stormtrooper stared at each other, the other Stormtroopers kept running until they rounded the corner. Except for the fading sound of the Stormtroopers, everything was quiet as Canoe stared down the other trooper. As soon as the sounds of marching officers completely faded away, they drew their blasters and pointed them at each other.

"Well well well, return of the traitor." Canoe said to his long time friend.

"Get out of my way Canoe," Buck said. "I don't want to hurt you."

Canoe gave a short snort, "You think you can take me on?"

"I don't think I can take you on; I know I can take you down."

/

Zack was surrounded. The Stormtroopers had not said anything so far; they had not demanded his surrender so he began to suspect that their intentions were not to take him in alive. He prepared himself for the coming life and death battle.

Zack charged at the soldier in front of him. He deflected a few shots before cutting him down diagonally. The other Stormtrooper came fast from behind him and he turned around to defend himself from his blaster shots. Zack moved closer and was able to cut his blaster in half. The trooper tackled Zack down to the ground, knocking his deactivated lightsaber away form him. The Stromtrooper straddled him while he pounded away at the rebel below him. Zack was able to push the trooper off of him. The man charged at him and he used The Force to recall the lightsaber to his waiting hand before running the trooper through the stomach with the green blade.

It was starting to dawn on Zack that this was a trap. He tried to contact Buck but all he got was static. He gritted his teeth as he realised that their communicators were being jammed. Her ran for Ru Bik's cell, hoping to free the Vultan so that they can make plans for escaping the deadly trap.

/

It was a stand-off between Canoe and Buck. Buck was the first to move as he shoved his gun into Canoe's in order to knock it away. to knock Canoe's away. Canoe used his palm to do the same to Buck's gun and both blasters landed in a pile some distance away. Buck punched Canoe away and ran for the blasters, where they had landed but Canoe grabbed his shoulders, spun him around and threw Buck behind him before he went after the weapons.

Buck got up and also ran for the blasters. He knew he would not make it to them before Canoe so he settled for stopping Canoe from getting them. He did a baseball slide where he kicked the guns away from Canoe. When Canoe reached down, instead of being rewarded with the blasters his hands were trapped within Buck's binding trapped Canoe's hands with his legs, Buck got up into a sitting position, after which he grabbed Canoe's head and flipped him over his head, making sure Canoe landed on his back. Buck tried to complete the manoeuvre with an arm lock since he had Canoe's arm trapped between his legs. However, Canoe was able to worm his hand out.

They both got up to their feet. Canoe whipped his hand to the side and hit Buck, however after the hit, Buck grabbed his arm. Buck began furiously elbowing Canoe in the helmet before slamming his body into the wall. Buck held Canoe in place while looking around for the blasters. Canoe was able to escape to the side and dodge an incoming punch. Canoe tried to punch Buck but he just blocked the punch.

They stood some distance apart in boxing stances. Buck threw two quick punches which Canoe dodged while getting under Buck's defences. Canoe was in an optimum position to throw an uppercut which he did. The uppercut connected and popped Buck's helmet off and made him stumble back. Canoe finished it off with a kick which sent Buck flying back onto his butt. Canoe ran forward and thrust his armoured knee into Buck's unprotected head.

Buck was stunned from the attack and it took some time for him to regain his bearings. When he did he saw a blaster aimed at his head by Canoe who was standing above him.

"You lose." Canoe said.

/

Zack stopped in front of Ru' Bik's supposed cell. He felt a darkness on the other side of the cell. The feeling made him apprehensive to open the door but he knew he had to, for Ru' Bik's sake. He clenched the hilt of the humming lightsaber tighter, as if to reassure himself that he could protect himself. He pressed buttons on the side of the cell which made its door open.

The cell was dark but there was obviously a figure sitting at the back of the confined space. Zack stood at the frame of the cell, reluctant to walk in.

"Ru Bik?" He said.

"No," a feminine voice said from the darkness as the figure at the end of the cell rose to its feet. Suddenly the dark cell room was bathed in red light from an activated lightsaber. A woman with a red lightsaber began walking towards Zack which prompted him to step back and hold his own lightsaber in a ready position as he slowly retreated. Saza stepped out of the cell, her figure being fully visible to Zack for the first time. She smiled at him. "I've been waiting for you," she said before she took a fighting position.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Sir!" One of the men in the _Razmass_ said, looking at the green screen in front of him. "The ship from earlier has returned."

 _The Diversity_ jumped out of hyperspace some distance away from _Razmass_.

"This time, we're not taking things lightly. Send out TIE fighters to shoot it down!" Admiral Soot ordered.

Lona made the ship speed forward towards the much larger _Razmass_. She was not sure yet what she would do. A hanger door of the _Razmass_ opened and three TIE fighters flew out to meet the rebel ship. The four ships were heading towards each other at great speed. The TIE fighters began shooting and caught _The Diversity_ a few times before Lona manoeuvred the ship past the three TIE fighters towards _Razmass._

The TIEs turned expertly and began pursuing the _Diversity_. They began firing at the bigger rebel ship from behind. Lona gritted her teeth as she realised that her shields would not hold out for long against the bombardment from the three TIE fighters.

"We seem to be getting our butts kicked!" Dyna said suddenly appearing at Lona's side.

Lona was startled to see the Twi'Lek girl at her side.

"Dyna! What are you doing here?" Lona said as she thought she had left Dyna behind in the much safer ship, _Lona's Room_.

"I was serious about wanting to help." Dyna said as she hung on to the co-pilot chair from behind.

"You better strap yourself in." Lona said as they were getting hammered with fire from the TIEs.

Dyan quickly strapped herself in the co-pilot chair. "You're getting shot a lot."

"I'm not much of a pilot, I'm afraid." Lona said as she realised how much trouble they were in. She checked some of the instruments near her and realised that they could not escape into hyperspace as the ship still needed time to recover. To make matters worse their shield integrity just dropped to zero!

"Buck told me that fighter pilots weaved if they were being chased and shot form behind!" Dyna said as one of their pursuiers shot at them, causing a small explosion that shook the ship. There was now a trail of smoke coming from the _Diversity_.

"Weave, huh?" Lona said as she stopped flying in a straight line.

To the surprise of the TIE fighter pilots _The Diversity_ began dodging more of their fire. They began taking battle formations to take down the ship. One of the TIEs got off another shot which caused another small explosion in _The Diversity._

"We're getting killed here!" Lona said to herself.

"Look!" Dyna said pointing at an open hanger, where the TIEs had come from. "Can't we go in there?"

"What? No, we can't... we..." Lona said but the more she thought about it the more she was convinced that it was not a bad idea. She needed to get in the _Razmass to save Buck and Zack_ , didn't she?

 _The Diversity_ dropped and headed for the hanger at full speed. Lona could not help but to be amazed at how fast the _The Diversity_ was. 'If only I was a better pilot than I could have defended myself better against the TIEs,' she thought bitterly.

 _The Diversity_ flew into the hanger. The hanger's work men ran away from the white and purple ship that flew in. The hanger had TIE fighters that stood in lines and a few other vehicles belonging to the work men stationed there. _The Diversity_ hovered in place as some of the armed soldiers began shooting at it with their blasters.

"This was not a good idea." Lona said.

"Hey! Stop shooting at us you jerks!" Dyna shouted from her place looking down at the Stormtroopers shooting at them.

 _The Diversity_ began speeding for the exit. The TIE fighters just entered the hanger when _The Diversity_ was speeding out. Two of the TIEs flew to the either side to get out of the path of the bigger ship while a third one scraped the top and tumbled out of control, crashing at the back of the hanger causing a fire. The other TIE fighters that had flew to the side to dodge the bigger ship lost control and crashed into other parked TIE ships. This caused a chain reaction where all the lined up ships blew up, row by row. _The Diversity_ exited the hanger just as it was engulfed in explosive fire.

"Sir, we've taken internal damage, originating from hangar 1. It seems that the rebel ship flew in and damaged it." A service man in the main hangar said to the Admiral.

"Get emergency services there!" Admiral Soot said. "Where is the enemy ship?"

"W-We seem to have lost track of the ship during the hangar commotion, sir!" Another service man said.

"What! Find that ship!" The Admiral said foaming at the mouth.

"Sir there's a ship at the edge of our sensors." Another man said looking at the instruments in front of them.

"Is it the enemy ship?" The Admiral inquired while walking to the man. The Admiral looked at the instruments and saw a dot beeping steadily just at the edges of their sensors.

"I'm not sure, sir." The service man said. "If it is, than that ship is faster than we thought."

"Identify it, now!" The Admiral said shouting at the air.

"Too late sir." The service man who had spotted the ship said. "The ship is now beyond our sensors."

/

Lona and Dyna were sitting in the dim control room of the ship. The only sources of light were blinking lights and buttons that were illuminated. Lona was pressing buttons while the ship made beeping noises.

"What are you doing?" Dyna asked looking at Lona who was running around the dim room.

"I'm diverting some of our power to the shields," Lona said while working. "This will badly affect other systems but I believe that we'll need shields if we're going to have a chance to escape."

"Escape? Where are we?"

"We're in one of the docking ports of Star Destroyers." Lona said, taking out her blaster gun from the holster on her hip and checking it.

Dyna looked at her and guessed that the task she was doing must be hard, considering they were in a nearly dark room.

"It's a miracle that they haven't located us." Lona said returning her weapon to its holster. "I'm going to board the ship and get Zack and Buck."

"I'll come wi..."

"No!" Lona said turning around to the Twi'Lek. "You cannot come with me!"

Dyna was frightened because it was the first time Lona had ever raised her voice at her before, she was usually sweet to her.

Lona sighed and kneeled to look at the girl in the eye. The whites of their eyes were some of the only things that were visible in the dark room. "I hate that you're involved in this, Dyna but I have no choice. I need you to guard the ship while I'm away. Defend it if you can but if you can't, use it to escape. Okay?"

"And leave you behind?" Dyna said amazed. "Never!"

"No use in staying behind for us if we're captured or... worse." Lona said. "Promise me that you will leave if you have no choice."

Dyna reluctantly nodded.

"Good, now let's see your blaster."

Dyna took out her blaster from the homemade holster resting behind her at her back. She held it in front of her face with barrel pointing up.

"Good. Remember, what you do when you see a shady character?"

"I shoot them in the head." Dyna said quietly.

"Good. Stay safe." Lona kissed her on the forehead before leaving the room.

Lona walked to the outside of the ship where he opened the port doors. There was no one working in the port _The Diversity_ had connected to. She was able to sneak deeper into the Star Destroyer where he proceeded with her mission to save Zack and Buck.

/

Saza and Zack faced off. They were both in fighting stances with their lightsabers at the ready. Saza held hers directly in front of her face, with the blade parallel to her chest and head while her legs were together. Zack held his own lightsaber to the side, also parallel to the ground with his legs spaced apart.

"Interesting lightsaber." Saza said, noting the green halo near the base of the energy blade of the same colour.

Zack gave a cocky smile, "I try." He stood in place as Saza began moving forward but then she stopped. Zack narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "Where is Ru' Bik?"

"Somewhere on the ship." Saza smiled evilly at Zack's confused expression. "Don't worry, he is well guarded. No one can get to him, not even a Jedi. That is what you are, right?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I guess we'll find out!" Saza said before charging at Zack.

Their blades met then parted only to be brought together again. Neither of them could gain an advantage because as soon as one of them attacked the other would parry, something Saza did most, or block, something that Zack did most of the time, and try to counter forcing the other to defend and retreat before attacking.

Zack gritted his teeth as he tried to create an opening. There were a few times when the red blade came close to finishing him but he was able to block in time. When he had glimpses of his opponents face, he saw that she had a neutral look on her face that would occasionally flicker to a grimace everytime she had to parry a quick slash. She wielded her weapon with one hand- its red blade tried to weave past Zack's defences. This was Zack's first lightsaber to lightsaber fight since all those years ago as a youngling in friendly sparring matches with fellow aspiring Jedi knights. The difference now was that Zack was a young adult and this match was anything but friendly, it was for his life.

/

Buck looked at the barrel of the blaster that was being held to his face by his best friend. A purple bruise was beginning to make itself apparent on the side of his face where he was kicked by Canoe. Canoe took off his helmet, letting his ginger hair free and allowing his freckled face to see the artificial lighting of the ship. He wanted to look at Buck in the eyes.

"Why?" Canoe began. "Why would you betray the Empire?"

"You wouldn't understand." Buck said.

"Try me!"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"TRY ME!"

"I... I owe the man my life," Buck said. "Ru' Bik is a good man"

"You owe him enough to jeopardise your career?"

"Yes."

Canoe took the blaster away. "You're a fool." Canoe said tossing the blaster to Buck.

Buck took it and looked at Canoe with a confused look. "Why would you give me a blaster."

"Well, I trust you're not going to shoot me, are you?" Canoe said walking to the other blaster. "Unless those rebels have brainwashed you."

Buck smiled. Although they were on opposing sides of the war but their bond of comradeship was still strong. "Don't worry, they haven't." Buck fetched his helmet from the floor and held it under his arm. "How... How did you guys know we were coming?"

"We cracked down on one of the rebel cells on Cirasso and the guy spilled the beans on your little suicide operation." Canoe said holstering his weapon. "If I knew that you were coming... well, I guess I'd still be here. My commanding officer is a psychopathic sadist."

"I need to save the guy I came with." Buck said, ignoring Canoe's last sentence.

"The lightsaber guy? He's as good as dead, with the ambush she's planned for him." Canoe said. "I think _you_ should try and escape, buddy."

"I can't. Remember Rule 8 of being a Stormtrooper?"

"'Never leave a man behind.'" Canoe said. "But I don't know how you'll get to him..."

"There's another entrance on the other side of the holding area." Buck said putting on his helmet. "If I can make it there, then I can save him. If I'm going to succeed, I'm going to have to ask you ot do something you're not going to like. I need your help, my friend."

Canoe sighed. "You've been making me do things I don't like lately, buddy."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"I must be as big as a fool as you," Canoe sighed to himself. "What do you need?"

"I need to know the fastest way to the other entrance and the codes to open the door." Buck said.

"Alright..." Canoe quickly explained the fastest way and also gave Buck the codes to open the doors. "Oh, and Buck, if by some miracle you do survive, I suggest you don't go to that little ship you used to infiltrate us with because by now it is heavily guarded."

Buck nodded and patted Canoe on the shoulder before running off. Canoe looked at his doomed friend and shook his head sadly.

/

Buck ran across the corridors to his new destination before it was too late. On the way he bumped into someone and fell back. His eyes went wide as the person he had bumped into aimed their gun at him and fired. He had to roll to the side as the energy blast scorched the ground next to him.

Buck took off his helmet and held his hands out, "Stop Lona! It's me."

They both got up to their feet.

"Where's Zack?" She asked.

"He's about to be ambushed." Buck said jogging past her and forcing her to join him. "I was on my way to help him when I bumped into you. What are you doing here?"

"I came when I realised this was a trap." Lona said. "They knew we were coming!"

"Yeah, I figured that out." Buck said as they cautiously turned a corner. "We need to get out of here ASAP but I don't know how. The ship we came with is being guarded."

"Then it's a good thing that I brought _The Diversity_ along."

/

Zack and Saza parted after another round of fighting. Zack had gained confidence during the fight. He was able to hold his own against his opponent and was confident that there was a chance he could actually win. Saza smiled at him which caused his own smile to disappear into a frown of confusion.

Saza pointed her blade at her opponent. "You are fast and energetic, boy, but your skills leave a lot to be desired."

"Boy?" Zack said wrinkling his nose in disgust. "If my skills are so low than why I you struggling?"

"What? Oh," Saza said placing her hand over her mouth while she giggled, "you actually think I've begun to try to kill you? What a silly and interesting boy you are. I don't want to kill you so how about this: youc an join me or have your head cut off."

"You're bluffing." Zack said smiling cockily.

"Okay, now you're going to see how I really fight when I'm taking this seriously." Saza held her lightsaber out in front of her, turning the blade sideways. A part of the arch that began at the blades hilt and curved to its base, fell down, making the lightsaber hilt circular with the emitter running at the center of the circle.

Saza took a quick fighting stance before charging at Zack. Zack was determined not to be intimidated so he also charged at her. Zack spun in the air and brought his blade down for her head. She stopped and back stepped while parrying the slash. She shifted forward thrusting the point at Zack's head. Zack jerked his head to the side in time to dodge the point. He swatted the red blade with his own green one. He began a furious three strike attack which forced Saza back. She parried the three strikes which ended in her lightsaber blade facing away from Zack. To Zack's shock, from the butt of the hilt and new red blade emerged, with its point speeding towards his face. He leapt back in time to dodge it but soon had to defend against the other blade which Saza swung around at him.

Saza had now adopted a fighting style to suite the double bladed lightsaber she wielded. Zack was desperately retreating in an attempt to escape the unexpected attack. He desperately back stepped, losing his form in the process. The second blade suddenly withdrew and Saza pressed forward again returning to the one handed grip of the circular hilt. However, her skill was better than the last time she had fought him this way and he found himself struggling to keep up with the speed of her strikes and the angles of her attack. He swatted the blade away and saw an opening . he swung up and brought the blade down, hoping to slice her head in half. The secondary blade came out just in time to collide its point with his blade, reflecting his attack back. Saza pressed on with her double ended lightsaber and then withdrew the other blade as she continued pressing her advantage.

She kept changing from two blades to one blade and Zack was still being pressed back. She got past his defences while wielding the single blade and gave him a grazing cut to the leg. Zack fell to a knee while screaming in pain. While on his knees he pointed his blade out in defence but Saza did not look worried. She had a psychotic smile on her face.

"Get up!" She said to him.

Zack suddenly lunged forward and attacked with surprising fury. Saza was so taken aback that she had to retreat while defending his blows. Zack kept pressing forward. He knew that he could not give her any room to breathe. However, Saza soon recovered from the attack and was beginning to get back into her own rhythm. She activated the other blade and attacked, driving ZacK back. Once again she switched between two blades and one, keeping her opponent off balance while advancing. This time she was able to give a glancing slash to his arm and kicked him away. Zack flew to the ground before sliding back.

Zack shuffled back on his butt while Saza advanced with a smile on her face. He came to realise that he could not defeat her. Her skills were far advanced compared to his. He knew that if this continued, he would die and that knowledge made him scared.

"Fear," Saza said as she approached and activating the other blade, "it's not a good quality in a Jedi... but I guess you're not a Jedi."

A door behind Zack opened to reveal Lona and Buck. Saza looked up at them in surprise. Lona's eyes went wide when she saw Zack on the floor and shot at the woman she deemed responsible. Saza deflected the energy bolts from Lona's blaster.

"Buck, give me your gun!" Lona said.

"What?" Buck said.

"Give me your gun and get Zack!" Lona said ordered. Buck gave her his blaster and Lona used them both to shoot at Saza while Buck crouched to Zack who was lying on the floor. "Get away from him, you witch!" Lona shouted as she unloaded on her with both blasters.

Buck grabbed Zack from behind and pulled him towards the exit while Saza was pinned in place by the fire that came her way. The blades on Saza's lightsaber began slowly rotating around the hilt. Soon they picked up speed until they became like a circular shield. With this new defence, Saza was able to advance on the rebels, even with Lona's fire power.

Buck pulled Zack past the door's frame. He dropped him in the hallway and closed the door while Saza advanced. The doors slid shut in Saza's face. Lona shot the pad that controlled the doors opening and closing for good measure.

Saza deactivated the blades and touched the closed with her fingers. "Interesting boy," she whispered to herself.

/

The three rebels ran across the hallways of the ship. Lona lead the way followed by Buck and Zack bringing up the rear. She led them to a T-section of the hallways and looked left and right. She bit her bottom lip in frustration.

"Stupid big ship; I think I'm lost." Lona said before looking back and seeing Zack half walk and half limp. "Zack, are you okay?"

Buck looked back at Zack who had fallen behind. "I'm okay." Zack said as he caught up.

"In which port is the ship?" Buck asked Lona.

"Port Z2" Lona said looking at Buck. She had the urge to ask him to take off his helmet so that she'd be more assured that it was an ally under there but she didn't.

"We'r in hallway -W, so we'll have to take a right... wait a second." Buck pressed a button and spoke into his helmet. "Red? Red, come in."

Canoe answered. "What do you want?"

"We're in hallway -W and we're looking for the fastest way to get to port Z2."

"Dammit, Buck. Why are you still involving me?" Canoe whispered while running behind other troopers. "There are a few Troopers who have formed blockades in some hallways, this is the route to take to avoid them..." Canoe gave them the path that would allow them to avoid most of the Stormtroopers.

Some of the doors began closing behind and in front of them, forcing them to change their course.

"They're trying to trap us in." Buck said as he took the rear.

"Really? We hadn't noticed." Zack said as he ran, trying to ignore the pain form the injuries he had sustained. All this movement only served to worsen his injured leg.

"Look!" Lona said pointing in front of her. A door was descending from the ceiling to close the other part of the hallway off.

"We need to get through to that door! It's the only pathway to our ship where there are no blockades!" Buck said.

They all sprinted ahead. Lona got to the closing door ahead of the boys, while Buck followed behind and Zack fell to the rear. Buck looked at the descending door and knew that he was not going to make it. At this rate, only Lona would be the only one to just make it.

Lona stopped at the door and tried to hold it up instead of fitting in the space under. Her strength was not near enough to even slow the door down and it inevitable closed. She slammed her fists at the door in frustration and turned around to the guys as they joined her.

"You could have gone through." Buck said.'

Lona shook her head. "No I couldn't." She leaned against the wall with all the hope drained from her.

Zack activated his lightsaber and cut a triangle on the wall beside him, exposing the wiring. "Maybe we can make the door open." Zack said leaning closer to the newly made hole.

Buck joined him and analysed the wires. "Maybe if we cross the green and blue wires..."

"Nah, crossing the purple one would be better." Zack said.

"Yeah, unless it trips some kind of alarm." Buck said fiddling with the wires. "We need something to cut them." Zack brought his lightsaber closer. "I was thinking of something smaller."

"Of course. I'm not an idiot!" Zack turned his lightsaber to the halo like circle that was at its base. He used the edge of the green halo to cut the wires before he and Buck proceeded to cross them in hopes of opening the door.

Lona rolled her eyes as the boys argued about which wires to cross and who was doing the crossing incorrectly. The door suddenly shifted and her body stiffened in surprise. "Wait," she said, "do that again; I think the door just moved."

"That doesn't make sense. The wires we crossed are still touching." Buck said.

"I think they brushed against this one." Zack said adding another wire to the ones that were touching.

The door began to lurch upwards. Lona turned around and smiled at them. The exposed wall began to throw yellow sparks as the wires began burning. Zack was focused on the burning wires until he felt a dark presence. His head whipped to the side and he saw Lona's happy expression quickly become replaced by one of shock. He eyes went wide and her smile disappeared as red focused energy erupted from her chest. The red blade stayed impaled through her chest for a moment before withdrawing and, as if given permission, her body fell to the ground revealing a smiling Saza behind where Lona had been standing.

"LOONNNAAAAA!" Zack cried as he ran to her. Saza stood ready but Zack thrust his hand out and she was pushed away by an invisible wave. Zack kneeled beside Lona and cradled her head while Buck got protectively placed himself between them and Saza. He shot at Saza and grazed her in the shoulder before she began blocking his shots. She stood in place as she deflected his shots. Another door began to descend between the group and the Inquisitor and Saza was forced to watch as she once again lost her prey behind the metal door.

Buck turned around to see Zack cradling Lona's head. "Lona, you... you're going to be okay."

"Zack, we need to go." Buck said softly. When he ignored him, he raised his voice. "Zack!"

Zack looked up at him and got back into action. He lifted Lona's body into his arms and they began running to the ship. On the way, Buck and Zack ran into two Stormtroopers but by surprising them, Buck was able to take them out without hesitation. Buck ran ahead, making sure that their path was clear of any obstacles. He didn't want to look back, he did not want to see... Buck shook the thoughts out of his head as he focused on the mission at hand: escaping.

/

They finally got to the port and opened the door to reveal Dyna pointing a gun at them. Buck quickly took off his helmet. "Woah, it's me!" He said. Dyna sighed in relief and dropped her aim before Zack ran past her to the medical room.

"What's wrong with..." Dyna began but was interrupted when Buck grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the ship hangar. "Not now! We need to get out of here!"

The ship roared to life and disengaged from the Star Destroyer. It began speeding towards the distance before five TIE fighters pursued. The TIEs quickly caught up and shot at _The Diversity_. The shields were holding up but Buck knew it would not be the case for long.

"What happened to our shields?" Buck shouted.

"We had a tough time getting here." Dyna said as the TIE fighters shot at them.

"I need you to keep them off our backs." Buck said.

"How?"

"Use the guns." Buck said pointing to the controls of the guns. Dyna ran to man the controls for the canons mounted on the _Diversity._ She did a dismal job as most of her shots completely missed the TIE fighters that had taken a fighting formation behind _The Diversity_.

Meanwhile, Zack carried Lona to the medical room and gently placed her on the bed. He pressed the button that summoned the medical droid.

"Hello sir, how can..."

"Check on her!" Zack said pushing the robot to the bed.

The robot scanned her body while the ship shook due to the shots taken from the pursuing TIE fighters. "I'm sorry sir, she's... dead."

"No. NOOOOO!" Zack activated his lightaber and sliced the droid across its chest.

Back at the control room, Buck was trying to avoid the TIEs, a task made impossible by their battle formation. Dyna was getting the hang of the weapons and shot at one of the TIEs multiple times before it exploded! "I got one!" She excitedly said.

"I would be happier if you got them all!" Buck said as the shields quickly dropped to zero. "I could use your help, Zack," he whispered to himself.

 _The Diversity_ came to a sudden halt, which jerked all the passengers. "What happened?" Dyna asked.

Buck noted the two TIE fighters hovering beside them. "We're caught in the TIE fighters tractor beams." He said leaning back into his chair. "It's over."

Dyna looked at him with fear, she had never seen him without hope. Another ship flew in from the distance. Buck did not bother looking at it through the instruments as he thought it was most likely another TIE but if he had, he would have seen that it was not. The ship shot down one of the TIE's holding _The Diversity_ in a tractor beam. _The Diversity_ could pull free from the weaker tractor beam of the one TIE fighter.

Buck looked at the ship that had just saved them. It was grey and half the size of _The Diversity_ and much older. It engaged one of the TIEs as the rest chased after _The Diversity_. The communication light went on and Buck answered.

The face of a green Twi'Lek appeared in the circular screen. " _Good Boy Express_ to _The Diversity_ , come in."

"This is _The Diversity,_ thank you for the save... Uhm..."

"Kisto! Where's Zack?" Kisto asked.

"He's... engaged." Buck said before another shot hit them.

"I suggest you get out of here. I've just sent you coordinates to a safe place to hyperspace to." Kisto said.

"Thank you, see you there!" Buck entered the coordinates and the ship entered hyperspace and went away from the TIEs.

Kisto weaved through the TIEs who were now beginning to focus exclusively on his ship, _The Good Boy Express_. Kisto noted that they were manoeuvring into a formation that would cut his escape off. The Twi 'Lek rebel waited until they almost had the formation completed before he hyperspaced away, leaving them in his dust and in frustration.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Two ships sat side by side looking like two sides of an incomplete triangle. On one side was the _Diversity._ It was primarily white, with purple across the roof and in some areas; on top, near the back was a noticeable space where a smaller ship would normally have rested. The other ship was _The Good Boy Express_. This ship was half the size of the _Diversity_ and was creamier white with numerous old grey patches. The doors of _The Good Boy Express_ opened and a Twi' Lek walked out of the smaller ship while a human walked out of the the _Diversity_.

They both stopped some distance away. Kisto, the Twi'Lek rebel instinctively reached for his blaster when he saw Buck in his Stormtrooper uniform. When he saw that Buck had no weapon he relaxed and his hand wandered away from his blaster. They spoke not daring to get nearer to each other.

"You're quiet a good pilot." Buck said with a friendly smile on his face.

"Thank you," Kisto replied. "Most people say I was born to be in a cockpit. I was under the impression that I would be meeting Zack."

"He's... inside." Buck said just before Dyna walked out of the ship to join Buck.

"Well well well, this is small galaxy." Kisto said, smiling. "What's a street thief like you doing all this way, Dyna?" Kisto asked in a mirthful tone. Dyna hugged Buck's arm in response and hid her face behind his elbow. Kisto raised an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong?"

"We lost a crew member." Buck said as Dyna squeeze his arm harder.

"Oh... I'm sorry. Trust me; I know how that feels like."

Zack walked out of the ship. His green eyes were small as they were hidden behind puffy eyelids. He gazed at Kisto. "Kisto, thank you for your help."

Kisto could hear that his voice was course and soft, a far cry from the cocky Zack he met on Cirasso. The Twi'Lek nodded in response.

"Why aren't you in Cirasso?" Zack asked. "I thought your duties were there."

"My rebel cell was discovered shortly after you left." Kisto said. "We were wiped out... I'm the only survivor... as far as I can tell." Buck's eyes went wide. Now he understood what Kisto meant when he said he knew how they felt about losing one of their own. "I had nothing to do, so I decided to keep my eye on things."

Zack nodded. He imagined after Kisto's men were killed, the Twi' Lek suspected that Zack had double crossed him. However, their attempt at saving Ru' Bik proved that they had not. "We should collect wood to build a funeral pyre." Zack said to Buck before walking away to find wood in the rocky landscape with a few meter wide patches of trees grouped closely together, sprouting out.

/

Canoe and the rest of Saza's men stood at attention after doing their debriefing on the recent events. Saza paced up and down the length of her assembled men while talking.

"...we were able to stop the rebels' plot, kill one of them and captured one of their small vessels but I am still not happy." Saza said. "They got away, which means they'll still be a thorn in the Empire's side." She said before she stopped in front of Canoe. "Your blaster looks a little old, Lieutenant Ida, why is that?"

Canoe stared straight ahead, not daring to look into her eyes, as his quick mind made up a lie. Until this very moment, he had not realised that he had mistakenly taken Buck's gun and given him his. "I requested a new blaster after mine malfunctioned. I guess they gave me a second hand one."

"Likely story." Saza before she turned away. "The rebels were being helped by someone in Stormtrooper armour. I did not get a good look at him but I noticed how new his gun looked when he fired it at me. So either one of you helped the rebels directly or you helped this rebel in Stormtrooper outfit, which I think is more likely." Saza said before she snapped her fingers and Stormtrropers entered the room and began came relieving her men of their blasters. "I suspect the rebel in the Stormtrooper armour is the MIA Buck Johnson, which would make him a traitor."

A Stormtrooper took Canoe's blaster from him and marked it as his.

"I will have all your blaster's bar code scanned and if any of them is registered as belonging to Buck Johnson, then that Stormtrooper will not only be charged with treason but he will also have to deal woth me!" Saza said. "Dismissed!" She waved them away.

Canoe walked out of the room and watched as the other Stormtroopers took away the blaster that he had been holding. He needed to find a way to get that blaster back because if they discover that it was Buck's, he may not live to see prison for treason charges, not when Saza Ripper was involved.

/

Buck walked to the small forest patch that Zack was cutting down. He could hear Zack using his lightsaber to cut trees down. He could hear and see the trees crashing down until the trees fell outward like an opening flower petal to reveal a heavy breathing Zack in the middle with his green laser blade ignited. He looked at Buck and Buck felt a little scared. The look in his eyes was not a mourning look nor did it look like the old Zack.

"Buck," Zack said. "I see you're making some progress."

Buck looked down at the bundle of wood that he had under his arm. Because he did not have any cutting tool, he had to snap off branches of the trees instead of cutting them down like Zack. "Yeah, but I don't think I was needed in this. You seem to be collecting more than enough wood." Buck said looking at the trees lying on the ground.

"I thought Dyna was suppose to be helping me?" Zack said, looking around for Dyna.

"You scared her," Buck said. "And the way you're using that thing now," Buck nodded to the lightsaber, "I can see why she was scared."

Zack sighed before deactivating the lightsaber. "I just want to get this done quickly," He said as he bent down inspect a tree.

"I understand." Buck said hesitantly.

"Yes and after we put... her to rest then we'll complete the mission." Zack said.

"The mission? We failed, Zack. There is no more mission."

"There's still a chance to break Ru' Bik out or don't you want to do that anymore."

"I do but... I think we've lost too much."

"That is why we must not give up!" Zack said. "Because we've lost too much to turn back now. We finish this."

"At whose expense? Mine? Dyna's?"

"If need be, yes." Zack said.

Buck was about to raise his voice but he took a moment to breathe and calm down. Zack was in mourning after all and he felt this loss the most considering he knew Lona the longest. "I think we need to take a step back and revaluate things."

"So now you want to back out when you dragged us into this!" Zack shouted getting up and making his way to Buck. "When it's your fault that Lona is..." Zack stopped when he saw and felt the fear from Buck. He looked down at his hands and noticed that his he had subconsciously activated his lightsaber. Zack took a deep breath and put his lightsaber away.

Buck calmed down once Zack put away the weapon. He was not armed because he was amongst allies but he was starting to regret leaving his gun back at the ship. "We'll talk about this later. Hopefully we'll both have calmed down." Buck said.

Zack nodded and Buck left him to his work.

/

Canoe waited until his squad was about to sleep. He knew that in a few minutes, their blaster's bar codes would be scanned and once his blaster was scanned, they will discover that he helped Buck. He needed to change blasters so that he was not discovered. He was already able to secretly obtain another blaster. Now all he had to do was sneak into the place where the blasters were going to be scanned and switch Buck's one for the newly acquired one.

The first step to doing this was getting out of the sleeping quarters while making an alibi for himself. "Hey, Pado." Canoe said calling out to one of his comrades who was trying to sleep.

"What, Canoe?" Pado grumbled.

"I'm kinda hungry. Wanna go to the cafeteria?" Canoe asked rather loudly.

Pado groaned as he turned his body away from Canoe. "If you want to sacrifice sleep for food, be my guest but don't drag me into your life choices."

Canoe gave a short laugh. "Alright buddy, I'll see you when I get back." Canoe said leaving him to sleep. The first part of the plan worked. Now while he was going to exchange the blasters, everyone who overheard him would think he was at the cafeteria.

Canoe put on his helmet while walking through the halls. At a Star Destroyer, there were always people on duty and he did not want to be recognised. If anyone saw him they would think he was just another over eager Trooper who's too excited to take off his helmet and there were a lot of those on any ship. He found the place where he had hidden the replacement blaster and began making his way to where the squad's blasters were taken.

He reached the entrance to the room where the blasters were. Through the door, he saw that there was a white platform that led to a section that was suspended from the ground. The ground was so far down that it could not be seen, it was hidden by darkness. On the platform were three short, blue droids. They had huge eyes that doubled as torches and whatever their light shined on would be seen by their large binocular shaped eyes.

Canoe groaned. He had not been expecting the security droids but it made sense that security would have increased after the last rebel attack. The droids were rotating at different angles, meaning with all three working together there was no blind spot. However, Canoe had a plan to get past them to the room beyond.

Canoe then proceeded to open the sliding door only a slither before shooting out into the air. The laser bolt travelled up past the three security droids, immediately gaining their attention. The droids rolled to one side to investigate the flash of light that was now long gone. While their attention was occupied Canoe rushed past the door onto the platform. This movement alerted the droids and they simultaneously turned around to where Canoe was and saw... nothing. The droids returned to their normal surveillance.

Unknown to the three security droids, Canoe was under the platform, hanging from the bars that were underneath the platform. He began moving forward like a monkey across the platform bars. His arms began straining as they supported his whole body weight. Underneath his helmet, beads of sweat were already appearing on his face. He did not dare look down at the seemingly bottomless pit beneath his dangling feet. He knew that if his hands failed and he fell, it would be the end of him.

He got to the end of the platform. He swung to one end of the platform and let go with one of his hands. All his weight was now on his left hand. He grunted quietly as he reached for his blaster. He aimed his blaster and let out another shot which sped above the heads of the droids. While the droids investigated the new lights, Canoe lifted himself from under the platform and got into the room before the security droids turned to his position.

In the security room he fell to his knees, half not believing that he made it. He heard clanking footsteps and jumped behind some big machinery before a droid walked past him. From behind the machine he spied on the droid. The droid had a blaster in its hands and it placed the blaster on a table. A green laser line of light slowly pasted over blaster resting on the table. When the light had completely passed a voice sounded out, " _Serial Number: 2749R2849. Registered to Corporal Pado Reese._ "

Canoe raised his eyebrows. The blasters were already being scanned! He snuck to where the other blasters were. All the blasters were in clear white cases. He saw that he was just in time as his blaster was next. He tried to open the case to replace the blaster but the case was locked! It did not matter how much he tried to pry it open, it would not budge. He heard the clanking footsteps of the droid as it returned to the blasters. Canoe was forced to hide as the droid appeared. It took the case with his blaster and via a magnetic signal discharged through its finger, it opened the glass case and took out the blaster. It headed for the table where the blaster would be scanned and placed the blaster on it. Before it could begin the scanning, there was a noise of cases falling over each other coming from behind it.

"Oh dear." The droid said as it walked back to the cases. While it was away, Canoe switched the blasters and returned to his hiding place before the droid returned. The scan began passing over the blaster, " _Serial Number: 2681BG3221. Registered to..."_ The computer paused and Canoe held his breathe. Why had the computer stopped? Had his switch not changed anything?

The droid slammed his palms on the table, "Yes?"

The voice replied, _"Lieutenant Canoe Ida."_

Canoe breathed a sigh of relief. He waited until the droid was out of sight before he got outside and snuck past the security droids out of the room the same way he snuck in. Now he needed to complete the plan by going to the cafeteria and solidifying his alibi. At the cafeteria he ordered something plain, had a few small talk conversations so that they could attest that he was there and then left to go to sleep.

/

The funeral pyre had been built. Buck and Zack made a makeshift stretcher to carry Lona's body. They had to fetch it from the medical room and for the first time, Buck saw her lifeless body. When the red lightsaber blade had stabbed a hole through her chest, he instinctively knew that she was dead but until now, he had avoided seeing the body. He and Zack stepped over the medical droid which was on the floor in two pieces. Buck guessed what had happened to the droid but he did not say anything. They moved her on their stretcher and carried her out to her final resting place.

Kisto looked on as Buck and Zack appeared from the ship. He found it a little funny that they were making this planet Lona's final resting place. Only a few people knew of this planet and most of them were rebels. The planet was the site of many impromptu funerals of escaping and fatally wounded rebels. And here was Lona, who would also end her journey on the planet. He took it as a sign that she was indeed a rebel, through and through. The wind began to pick up. Kisto knew that the planet's winds could get intense the later in the day it got and he hoped that the ceremony would be over by then.

Dyna watched as the stretcher with Lona's body passed by. It was strange for her, seeing Lona like this. It was strange not seeing her chest rise and fall in time with her breath. A great sadness fell over her as she remembered the few good times she had with her and how she would never see her again and how she would never get the opportunity of knowing her better. Tears began to well up beneath her eyes. Dyna clenched her jaw in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. She felt like she had to be strong. She tore her eyes away from Lona's face and stared at the white sheet covering her body. Through the sheet she could see that her body was dressed in different clothes than the ones she died in. She looked at Zack and felt very sorry for him for she imagined that he was hurting the most.

Zack carried the stretcher from the front. He looked behind him at the face that belonged to the body on the stretcher. Although his eyes were on Lona's peaceful face all he could see was his failure to protect her, his failure to defeat the inquisitor who did this to her, his failure to save Ru' Bik. In his mind he kept seeing Saza stab Lona in the back, through her chest and how he was powerless to stop it. He looked forward again and made a promise to avenge her.

They moved her body to the pyre and set it alight. The four rebels watched on as the pyre caught on fire. They silently watched as the only sounds that could be heard was the wind, the blazing fire and Dyna's sobs.

* * *

 **Author Note:**

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading... unless your skimming through the thing to check if its any good, in that case, thanks for skimming!

Anyways, this is the last chapter I wrote before my life got... busy? School, work, you know stuff of that nature. Unfortunately things haven't quietened down so because I'm behind on the writing, I'm going to put this thing on a short term hiatus. Its not permanent, I promise, it will be three months max! Just hang in there for me, we're almost done with this amazing tale (shameless promotion).

Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:**

Yay!Haitus is over. Now I can continue this in earnest! Hope any readers still remember what's going on.

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

Saza's squadron was lined up to attention. She walked in the room and said to the assembled men, "Oh good, you're all here." A Stormtrooper followed in her wake pushing a trolley with blasters. "We have scanned all the weapons and it turns out that everything is on the up and up." Saza said as the Stormtrooper redistributed the blasters back to their owners. "A shame really, I was hoping on having some fun." She said as she casually looked at her nails. "Another piece of good news is that we're almost at the prison planet. Then we can leave this ship. Dismissed."

As Canoe was leaving Saza stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop with their bodies inches apart. His eyes darted around and he noted that he was alone with her.

"I was glad to find out that you were speaking the truth about your blaster." She said with her eyes glancing at his blaster.

"Of course ma'am, I'd never betray the Empire." Canoe said.

"You say that but for some reason I don't completely believe it." Saza said. "Don't get me wrong, you might actually have nothing to do with Buck Johnson's betrayal but something tells me that you will not always be loyal to the Empire. And when that day comes, you should hope that I am not given the responsibility to deal with you because although you are my favourite Stormtrooper," Saza said running a slender hand down his chest, "I will not take any less pleasure in causing you pain." Saza smiled and looked to the side as if she was contemplating something. "Actaully, it may be even more fun causing my favourite Stormtrooper pain. Let's hope for your sake we never find out."

Canoe nervously gulped before he was dismissed. When he was out of the room and away from Saza he breathed a sigh of relief. He silently scolded himself. By now he should be used to her antics but something about Saza threw him off balance. He feared her but he could not deny that she brought out other feelings within him. Canoe sighed. "I need to get a transfer out of here," he quietly said to himself before he looked out one of the window. He could see the fast approaching prison planet with its red atmospheric hue. He hoped that everything would end on the prison planet.

/

"You coward!" Zack shouted at Buck.

"Just because I don't want to risk anymore lives on this doesn't mean I'm a coward." Buck defended himself.

Kisto was looking at the two argue. It had been going back and fourth for close to an hour now. He sat with his arms crossed. When the two had begun to raise their voices, he suggested that Dyna leave before things got nasty. The Twi' Lek girl was defiant at first but Kisto was able to convince her to go, leaving him with them.

"Oh, you are a coward Buck. And I'm sure Kisto will agree with me." Zack said looking at Kisto for support.

Kisto was surprised that he had been dragged into this argument. "Well I..."

"Kisto has nothing to do with this!" Buck said. "In fact, Ru' Bik has nothing to do with this. The only reason you want to do this is because you want revenge. This is all about your vendetta!"

"Oh and it wasn't for you?" Zack said.

"No it wasn't..."

"Don't lie to me, Buck!" Zack said with disgust. "The only reason you wanted to save Ru' Bik, the only reason why you placed all our lives in danger was to ease you conscience. You killed Ru' Bik's wife and your the reason Lona is dead!"

"What? Say that again!" Buck got closer to Zack with fists clenched and Zack did the same.

If Kisto had not jumped in between them, they would have fought right then and there. "What kind of crew are you guys?" Kisto said as he struggled to keep them apart. "One of your members is gone and all you can do is allow your conversations to devolve into a fist fight?"

/

Dyna sighed as she heard the argument in the other room. Lona would usually be the one to stop the fights between Buck and Zack. She wondered if both men could work together without Lona being the voice of peace and cooperation. She exited the ship as she heard movement like people fighting coming from the other room and Kisto criticising the two humans.

The wind outside had picked up and it blew the green tendrils attached to her head about. She hugged herself as she walked through the wind. There was a cloud of dust knee high over the whole rocky plane. She looked across her and saw the _Good Boy Express_ sitting alone and empty for its pilot was dealing with the crewmembers of _The Diversity._

Dyna walked the length of _The Diversity_ and when she came to the back she had to duck behind a corner. She slowly peeked out of the corner to confirm what she had seen. Near the ship with a red scanning light on the ship was a droid. It had a spherical flat head with a red dot at the front that served as its eye. Hanging from the spherical head were pieces of metal and it floated above the ground. Although she did not know it was an Imperial scouting droid, Dyna knew that its presence was not a good thing.

As the droid scanned the ship, she slowly backed away. When she was sure she was far away enough, she began running for the dust fog that was knee high was beginning to elevate, partly blinding Dyan. She hoped that the fog would blind the droid too. She looked back to make sure that the droid was not following her. It was gone. _Where is it?_ She thought to herself. When she turned around she had to come to a complete stop because the droid was now in her path! She fell down on her butt and began kicking to get away from the droid. The flowing dust cloud that hid the ground also partly hid her. As she back away the droid persued closely, she could not get up out of fear. Two black metal sticks unfolded from the droids head and at the end shun with a red light. The droid pointed the two shining sticks at the partly hidden Dyna. The dust fog rose to completly hide Dyna as the droid let out two shots. The red energy projectiles illuminated the low dust fog with red light for a moment. The droid leaned closer to the ground and found that Dyna was no longer there and its energy bolts had hit the empty ground. Its artificial mind knew that it could not have incenerated her and therefore, she was most likely still alive.

The droid hovered higher and looked around, its AI calculating where the little Twi'Lek grirl may have gone. It became apparent to it that she was using the low lying dust fog to hide herself but without peaking above the fog, she would be blind to where she was going, unless... The droid quickly hovered below the ship and saw Dyna crouching there, slowly moving for the entrance. Her eyes widen in surprise at being caught before she jumped back into the dust fog as the droid shot at her. The droid shot a few more times without any luck in finding its target.

Droid rounded until it found a space bug enough for it to go under the ship and appear on the other side. AA red scanning light came out of its eye as it esumed its search for its quarry. Unkbeknonst to the droid, Dyna had scaled some distance up the ship. However, her hands found it hard to grip the ship and were slowly slipping . She knew that she would be discovered and decided that if she was, it would be on her terms. Dyna let go of the ship and dropped right on the droid's head. She began to shout and club the droids head with her hands. She hoped the others would hear her screams through the howling wind; the thick walls of the ship and their argument.

Dyna's sudden attack surprised the droid and made it panic. It began spinning wildly as Dyna tried to hold on while simultaneously hammering it with tiny green fists. The scouting droid spun faster and faster until all Dyna could do was scream and hold on. One of the places she was holding onto with her hand fell away, exposing wire. Dyna reached for the wires and ripped them out which caused the spinning to stop. The droid slammed into the ship in an effort to get her off and in response, she ripped out a few more wires which caused the droid's thrusters to activate. The droid began speeding away from the ship in an upward diagonal path. With a few more ripping of wires, it began moving in an up and down zig zags and left behind a trail of white smoke as it got higher and further away from _The Diversity._

Dyna looked back in helplessness as she got further away from the ship. She ripped out a few more wires which only caused things to get worse as the thrusters were not only activated to full power but the droid began spinning again. Dyna held on tightly as the droids path became more horizontal and faster. After somE time, there was an internal explosion in the droid, sending out a shower of sparks and fire all around it. Smoke rose from its spherical head and little licks of fire could be seen trying to escape its mechanical insides. The thrusters died and the droid began falling diagonally to the ground. It crashed and skipped like a stone thrown on water. When it did its third and last skip, it threw Dyna off to the ground.

Dyna slowly got up and immediately fell down again. The world was still spinning in her head from the turbulent ride on the droid and the resultant landing. She began walking away from the droid in case it could still hurt her but because of the spinning and the way she got to where she was, she had lost her bearings and was walking in a direction that was away from the ship.

/

Saza entered a room. It was dimly lit and in the center was a hologram projector. The projector came to life and on it was a fellow Inquisitor, The Seventh Sister.

"Seventh Sister," Saza said slightly bowing her head.

"Sister, it is good to see you." The Seventh Sister said.

"Have you had any success with what I requested?" Saza asked.

"Ah, yes. The boy you spoke of. You said he would be old enough to be a Jedi, right?"

"Yes." Saza confirmed. "Or a newly knighted Jedi."

"Well, there are no records on him in the Jedi Archive." The Seventh Sister said.

"That is disappointing." Saza said rubbing her chin in thought. "Why could that be?"

"Maybe someone erased him of the system; maybe he was expelled so long ago that he was forgotten; maybe he was never a Jedi to begin with." The Seven Sister offered. "But I did find out something about the lightsaber you described."

This visibly perked Saza's interest and she looked up, "Yes?"

"It belonged to a Jedi name Sauvvin. Apparently his lightsaber and holocron were kept in the temple but were lost during The Purge."

"This makes it more important for him to be caught." Saza said. "If he has important Jedi artifacts, then it may help our cause to obtain them. Thank you Seventh Sistser." Saza said bowing slightly. The sister returned the gesture before the hologram disappeared.

/

"I'm sorry you had to see all of that." Buck said to Kisto as they were preparing to eat rations for dinner.

"I get the feeling that both of you haven't been a crew for long." Kisto said sitting opposite Buck.

"No," Buck said. "We were going to team up only to save Ru'Bik and then go our separate ways."

The doors suddenly slid opened and in barged Zack. He looked slightly panicked. "Buck, I can't find Dyna!"

Buck looked at Zack. "She's probably exploring the ship."

"No Buck, you don't understand. Its dinner time and I can't find Dyna." Zack said.

Buck's eyes went wide. "Oh no, we need to look for her."

Within minutes they were already outside. The planets winds had picked up with the night, caking the surface in a cloud of dust. Kisto went over to his ship while Zack and Buck looked around with flashlights.

"Dyna!" Zack called out making sure to pass his flashlight over every inch of surface he could. Buck came from around the ship to join Zack. He shook his helmet-hidden head to gesture that he had not found her. they waited for Kisto who arrived and like them had failed to find her. "I don't understand, did she wander away?"

"Well, we have come from a combat situation." Buck said. "It's possible that..."

"Don't you dare Buck!" Zack said. "We're not losing another one of our own!"

Buck looked away, the flash lights on either side of his helmet illuminating his path of sight. "We should split up, cover a three point direction. I'll take that way, Zack you go in that direction and Kisto, if your willing to help, go in that direction." Buck said pointing the directions out.

"Of course I'm willing to help." Kisto said before turning to go back to his ship. "I'll take my hover bike to cover the distances quicker."

Buck nodded before he and Zack went to their respective directions.

/

Dyna was walking steadily on. She began to come to the horrible realisation that she was lost. She looked behind her and saw the sand fog stretch all the way to the horizon. The dust removed any tracks that she made, which would make it difficult for anyone to find her. She sighed as she considered stopping and staying in one place until she was either found or... starved to death.

She held her stomach as she could feel the impending hunger pangs. She was startled when something moved from underneath the surface of the migrating sand. It burst through the moving layer fog dust to show its domed brown shell and the green flesh that could be seen through the front opening of the shell. Two yellow eyes shown menacingly at her. The rest of the creature's body was hidden beneath the blowing dust.

Dyna moved back when the creature raised two green tentacles from beneath the sand. "Careful now, I don't want to hurt you. I'm a Jedi in training you know?" Dyna warned as she backed away. She tripped over and fell back on her butt as the monster continued its advance. Dyna screamed in fear as the monster prepared to pounce, opening its mouth which was lined with sharp jaggered teeth.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Dyna kept retreating as the monster neared her. When the monster pounced, leading with its teeth, she rolled to the side, dodging it. As she rolled, the dust got in her eyes. Dyna got up and stumbled backward as she tried to rub the dust from her eyes. Her vision cleared in time to see and dodge the creature's next attempt to eat her.

A tentacle grabbed her leg, causing her to fall back. The green tentacle began pulling her towards its mouth. Dyna's senses were distorted as she was submerged under the moving layer of dust while being pulled ever closer to the monster.

Dyna gritted her teeth, grinding some of the sand particles that had gotten into her mouth. She kicked the tentacle away and crawled away from the monster. She made sure to close her eyes so as she did not get anymore blinded by the sand. When she decided she was far enough she got to her feet and looked back at the chasing predator.

Dyna ducked as the monster whipped out a green tentacle at her. She ran to the creature's side and jumped on its shell. She was stabbed by some of the small spikes on the shell that she had not noticed. Ignoring the pain, she reached the shell opening from above and gorged the monster's eyes. The monster cried out and tried to buck her off but she held on and continued hurting it. At the end, her hands were stained with the dead creature's green blood.

She jumped down from the shell and looked at her legs which were dotted with bleeding puncture wounds obtained when she was getting on the shell. She made a whining noise as she touched the painful punctures. She saw a green tentacle coming from the dust and had to jumped back in time to avoid it. She looked at the still creature to confirm it was dead and it was. But where were these other tentacles coming from?

To Dyna's surprise and despair, she saw more of the creatures pop up from the layer of blowing low lying sand. There were too many for her to take on, so she did the only other thing she could do. She ran.

/

Kisto was riding on his bike, looking out for the Twi'Lik girl, which was made hard by the low lying fog like sand. He took out his communicator and contacted the other searchers.

"Have you guys had any luck?" Kisto said into his communicator.

Buck was walking quickly through the lonely planet surface. "Dyna! Dyna!" He repeatedly shouted while looking around before he heard Kisto's message through his communication device. "I haven't seen her."

Zack was also scanning the area he was at with a flash light. "No luck here either. Damn sand!" He cursed.

"I know what you mean," Buck said. "I'm worried that she may be somewhere here... that either of us have just passed her by and we couldn't see her because of this sand. I know Kisto warned us about it but I didn't think it would be this troublesome."

"Let's just focus on the task at hand; I'm sure she'll turn up." Kisto said

Both Buck and Zack nodded and put their communicators away only to take them when they would need them again.

/

The Prison Warden walked to his office with a bunch of papers in his hands. They were transfer papers for the newly arrived prisoners. He wanted to get to his office and finish the paper work as soo...

The Warden had to stop when he saw someone in his chair in his office. The chair was turned around but he could see the slender arms on the arm rest and the dark ginger hair peeking over the top of the chair. The commander raised an eyebrow. "Hey, who is in my chair?" He angrily asked.

The chair swivelled around to reveal a smirking Saza Ripper. "I am," she said.

The Warden was startled by this and dropped the stack of papers he had been carrying. "In-Inquisitor Ripper, I'm sorry I didn't know it was you." He said as he bent over and gathered the papers and collecting them into a bunch.

"Clearly," Saza said, looking down at the thin man with a black mustach and balding head.

"I-I was hoping to do my paperwork." The Warden said, hoping that she would evacuate his personal and well earned work space.

"I'm sorry Warden," Saza said putting her feet up on the desk. "But I will have to commandeer this office during my stay here. But I have heard that the cafeteria is a good place to do... whatever you were going to do."

"Oh," the Warden said getting up after he was able to successfully gather all the papers.

"By the way, I need the paperwork for the prisoners I brought here to be done as soon as possible." Saza said.

"Of-Of course," the Warden said leaving his former office with a scewed stack of paperwork in his arms. He crashed into and incoming trooper as he was about to leave, causing the paperwork to fall down again. The Warden cursed multiple times as Canoe helped him collect the paper work while the commander threw insults at him.

"Lieutenant," Saza called out to Canoe, "stop wasting time and make you report."

Canoe left the Warden on the floor collecting his papers while he stepped into the office. The Warden watched as the doors slid close in his face while he was on his knees collecting papers. Canoe stood to attention and gave a salute to Saza who did not bother to return it.

"Now why are you here, lieutenant? Do you have something to report or is this a... social visit?" Saza said leaning closer on her desk to Canoe.

Canoe involuntarily gulped before speaking, "Uhm... no, I mean..." Canoe sighed a little before continuing. "Admiral John Soot is asking when we will be expected to leave."

Saza stayed quiet for some time, while thinking. "Tell him he may leave, we'll get our own ride back." Canoe raised an eyebrow at this and Saza looked up at his face. "Do you disagree with my decision lieutenant Ida?"

"No ma'am it's just... I don't see any reason why we would stay." Canoe said.

"Already tired of my squad, Canoe?" Saza asked while standing and walking around her desk and sitting on the other side, much closer to Canoe.

Canoe wanted to say yes but decided to play it safe. "No."

"You know it's not normal for an inquisitor to have a squad under her command." Saza said. "We are more of the lone wolves of the Empire. So my squad will be disbanded after we leave this planet. But I think that if you stuck with me you could go very far." She said this as she approaching him slowly, like a slithering snake going closer to a dying mouse.

Canoe turned his head so that he was facing her. They kept still for a moment, EACH enjoying the intimate position they were in. Canoe began ever so slightly leaning in but then there was a beep which caused Saza to sigh and lean away. She got off the desk and walked around to situate herself near the communication beep.

"Well we're going to stay here until the prisoners have been processed and then we'll leave." Saza said with her finger hovering over the button to answer the call. "If that is all, lieutenant."

Canoe saluted and left the office for Saza to answer the communication device in privacy. When he got outside he sighed to himself. "I really need to get away from her before I fall in love," Canoe said.

/

Zack was getting frustrated with his and his companions 'lack of results. He began thinking that Buck was right about the difficulty of finding her if she was hurt and was being hidden by the layer of dust. If only there was some other way to find her. That is when he stopped and a thought crossed his mind, "Could I use the Force to find her?"

He did not see why not and it was the only other thing he had not tried. He closed his eyes and began walking forward. After a few minutes of this, he began feeling like an idiot. That is until he felt _something_. It felt like a feint tug and he sensed that if he didn't follow it, he could lose it. He took a deep breath and tried to _feel out_ where the tug was trying to pull him to. He slowly walked to its direction and felt it get a little stronger but still faint and fragile. While following the tug he tripped on something and fell head forward to the sandy ground.

Zack cursed loudly before getting up and closing his eyes again. He was hoping to regain the _tug_ but he felt nothing. He squeezed his fist and angrily screamed at the sky causing the sand fog around him to disperse in a circle, revealing the ground beneath. Zack, while shouting in frustration, noticed something sticking out of the ground. He stopped shouting the sand resumed its normal flow, hiding the object he saw.

He realised that what he saw must have been what he had tripped on. He walked to where he saw it and plunged his hands in the layer of fog. Once he could feel the object he pulled it up through the dust. His eyes widened when he realised what the object was, it was a scout droid!

"Guys, I just found a scout droid." Zack said into his communicator. "I thought you said the Empire did not know about this planet?"

"They don't," Kisto said stopping his hover bike. "If its still here then that means that it didn't get a chance to report our location to the Empire."

"What if that was Dyna's doing?" Buck said.

"Well it's the only lead we've got," Zack said.

"Agreed! I'll turn my hover bike around to help assist you in finding her." Kisto said while doing just that.

/

Buck felt useless. He wanted to help but he was too far away from Zack's position, so he began walking back to the ship. After some time walking there were bright spotlights that shone on him from a vehicle coming far away. He was surpised to see Kisto on his hover bike, stopping in front of the human.

"Kisto? I thought you were heading for Zack." Buck said.

"I would but I thought it would be best if the both of you looked for her, considering she means a lot more to both of you."

Although Kisto could not see it from behind his visor, Buck was smiling. "Thank you, Kisto."

Kisto hopped off the bike and allowed Buck to take it. The Twi'Lek watched him ride off with his hover bike before he began making his way back to the ship.

Buck caught up to Zack who was already walking in the direction Dyna went. The hover bike stopped beside him and allowed Zack to jump on before speeding away.

"I was expecting Kisto!" Zack said over the roar of the wind whipping past them.

"He thought it would be best if I was here instead." Buck said.

"Okay then, let's go get her!" Zack said before Buck sped ahead at full speed.

/

Dyna kept running. After a some metres, she fell on her hands and knees in exhaustion. Running in the loose sand was harder than she had anticipated. She looked behind her, hoping that she was able to outrun the creatures. She did not see anything and almost sighed in relief but her moment of relief was taken form her when she saw the silhouettes oif the creatures through the sand fog. She sighed before she resumed her running, although much slower. Her breath was shallow and every muscle in her body began burning. She was surprised that she had not yet dropped from exhaustion.

"How... are they... keeping up... with me?" She asked between heavy breathes.

She suddenly fell forward when the ground beneath her feet disappeared. She tumbled forward down a sloping sandy side. Her tumble was stopped only by hitting the ground below. Dyna groggily got up. She looked up and saw that she had fallen into a big hole. She ran to the other side of the hole and began scaling up but the shifting sand gave her no place to purchase, causing her slide back down. She tried again but was met with the same results.

"I-I can't get out!" Dyna said as sand fell into her eyes from above. She rubbed the sand out of her eyes as tears fell down her cheek. The tears started out because her eyes were irritated by the sand particles but then she began crying from sadness and frustration. She looked up while sobbing and saw that the creatures had lined up along the circumference of the hole.

Dyna wiped the tears on her cheek away only for them to be replaced by a fresh stream from her eyes. The creatures just stared down at her, with their glowing yellow eyes penetrating the fog of sand. They all suddenly began walking down the hole. Now that they were fully visible, Dyna could see their multiple crab-like legs helping them to scale down.

Dyna began moving back from the slanting sides of the hole. The creatures had surrounded her on all sides. She stopped at the centre. One of the creatures came up behind her, startling her and making her fall backwards. She looked in horror as the creature exposed its jaggered teeth but before it could gobble her down, there was a flash of light and an explosion in the ground between her and the monster. Dyna looked up at the hole and saw two figures up standing at the top.

"Dyna!" Buck shouted down at her before letting lose a few shots at the creature that tried to attack her. "It took six shots for me to take that thing down!"

"We need to get down there and help her!" Zack said.

"We can't just jump in there," Buck said going to the storage compartment of the hover bike. "The sides look too unstable for us to climb back up. We should ropel down. Let's hope there's some rope in here." Buck said opening the storage compartment and finding a grey rope. "Good we can use th..." He looked to the side and found that Zack had already jumped down the hole.

Zack slid down the side of the sandy hole like he was skiing with his shoes instead of skies. He made sure to avoid the creatures already on their way down. Activating his lightsaber, he weaved in between the creatures to get at Dyna. He jumped on and stabbed at a creature that was close to taking a bite out of her.

"Are you okay?" Zack asked.

Dyan nodded, wiping the tears form her face again.

"Just stay there, I'll protect you." Zack said before fighting the creatures. Zack screamed and shouted as he laid a path of death through the creatures. His focus was so much on the creatures in front of him that he did not pay attention to the ones sneaking behind Dyan. They were stopped when Buck unleashed a few more shots at them. Buck went over to Dyna who was still on the ground.

"Buck!" Dyna said as he crouched near her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Come, let's get out of here." Buck allowed her to piggy bank onto his back. He ran to the hole's edge, shooting down anything that got in his way. "Zack, lets get out of here." Buck said noting that the creatures had begun to run haphazardly in an attempt to get away from the lightsaber wielder.

"You go!" Zack said. "I'm going to take care of these creatures!" Zack said before slicing a creature near him open.

Buck looked around and saw that the panicking creatures no longer needed to be taken care of. He decided not to point this out and continued using the rope he had used to scale down the hole to go up. Dyna clutched tightly to him as he climbed up and out of the hole. SShe looked down at Zack, fighting the fleeing creatures alone andhad to avert her eyes when she saw all the killing he was doing.

/

Night had passed on the planet. The nights were short, not lasting more than four hours. The layer of sand also disappeared with the rising sun and everything was clear, making the ground visible. Buck had seated Dyna some distance away from the hole and had just finished treating her wounds with the basic Stormtrooper knowledge he possed and whatever medical supplies that were in the hover bike.

"Why do you still have your helmet on?" Dyna asked looking at her reflection through the Stormtrooper helmet visors.

Buck took off the helmet to reveal his shiny sweaty face. "Is that better?" He asked smiling.

Dyan managed a weak smile.

"Hey, there we go. You're smiling again." Buck said, helping her to her feet. "You know we were worried about you."

"If you were _all_ worried then why is _he_ still in there?" Dyna said looking towards the hole where the hover bike with the climbing rope still attached to it was. They would sometimes hear the sound of the lightsaber crashing into living matter an Zack shout in either anger or triumph.

"Zack... is going through some things." Buck said. "Give him time. He'll come alright."

Zack had finally finished wih his work. All around him were the bodies of the creatures that had once been alive. He had made sure that none of them survived the battle. He allowed himself to deactivate his lightsaber blade before climbing up the side of the hole using the rope.

He got out in time to see Buck and Dyna walk towards the bike. "Oh good, your out." Buck said.

"Is everything okay?" Zack asked feeling exhausted.

Dyan nodded.

"Good, let's go home." Zack exhaustedly said.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Alright Zack," Buck said. "You're right, we can't give up; not after all we've risked and lost to save Ru' Bik."

Zack's mouth fell open. "I-I know I'm right but what made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

"I just told you." Buck said. "I thought about it last night and I realised you were right... partly anyways."

Kisto was standing in the corner with his arms crossed. "Well at least you guys agree on something," he said, "even though its on a suicidal mission," he whispered to himself.

"Now all we have to do is find a way onto the prison planet and spring out Ru' Bik." Zack said.

"Ekadi prison is difficult to get into." Kisto said. "Its a maximuim security prison and has some high class prisoners." Kisto said. "What you guys are talking about is near impossible."

"Anything is possible." Zack assured the Twi'Lek. "And this time, I think we'll have a better chance of success because they won't be expecting us."

"Your right about that," Kisto said. "Only fools try to break into Ekadi."

"Exactly... wait, did you just call us fools?" Zack said.

The door to the room opened and Dyna walked in. She was chewing on a biscuit-like snack. "Hey," she said launching some of crumbs into the air from her mouth.

"Dyan, you're still eating?" Buck said, outraged.

"Yeah, I have to catch up for yesterday." Dyna said.

"You missed one meal and yet you've already eaten to equivalent of three!" Buck said. "You're going to eat us out of all our rations."

"Rations? That's it!" Kisto said snapping his fingers which made everyone look at him. "We can sneak through Ekadi's defences by pretending to be a supply ship."

"We?" Buck asked raising an eyebrow.

Kisto smiled, "I guess I have a little foolishness in me as well. But if I'm going to join you guys, I have a condition."

"What?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Dyna said interjected before stuffing the rest of her snack into her mouth.

"I have a few friends and rebel allies on Ekadi." Kisto said. "So this mission cannot focus on one being but all of the prisoners on the planet."

"A full scale prison break?" Buck said rubbing his chin. "Okay."

"Good, then lets do this!" Kisto said pumping his fist in the air.

/

Saza knelt down on one knee before a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. The blue tint hologram bathed the dark room in a dim light. The virtual image of the Inquisitor looked down on Saza who had taken a knee.

"Grand Inquisitor," Saza greeted respectfully.

"Inquisitor Ripper, is there any reason why you are still on Ekadi?" The Inquisitor said. "All the prisoners have been processed so there is no longer a need for you to be there."

"Yes, I thought it prudent for me to stay because..." Saza took a moment to phrase her words, "I have a _feeling_ that something is going to happen."

The Inquisitor sighed in frustration. "I don't want to give _you_ any leeway but I guess I can make an exception this time." The Grand Inquisitor said, showing rows of jaggered teeth in his smile. "But I'll give you only five standard days and then you will have to leave Ekadi."

"As you wish, Grand Inquisitor." Saza said. The hologram withdrew, plunging the room in darkness.

/

"You want a schedule of all the ration ships heading to Ekadi?" A Rodan said through communication device.

"Yes, can you do it?" Kisto asked. He was alone in his ship, _The Good Boy Express_.

"Should be easy enough." The Rodan said. "But everyone's asking why you haven't returned to base."

"I thought I was in a rebellion organisation, not a military structure." Kisto said, looking annoyed. "Why do they want to keep tabs on me?"

"Come on, you know you're an important member of the rebellion." The Rodan said. "And anyways, we gave you a ship!"

"I knew I shouldn't have taken this ship." Kisto said bitterly. "Now I'm all attached to it."

"And what do you want to do with information on Ekadi's ration route anyway?"

Kisto smiled and leaned closer to the screen, "I'm planning on breaking all our comrades out."

"You're joking right," the Rodan said, giving a short laugh. When Kisto did not laugh along or say anything else, his face took on a more serious look. "Oh my goodness, you're serious." Kisto nodded. "Why are you doing this, Kisto? Is it because of what happened on Cirasso. There's nothing you cou..."

"It has nothing to do with that," Kisto interjected. "Look, I'm doing this because I see an opportunity to do it. Don't worry about me, okay?"

The Rodan sadly nodded.

"Now, if we're able to pull this off we'll need a safe place to retreat to. I have a few places in mind, I'll send the coordinates to you."

"Okay, good luck." The Rodan said before tuning off.

/

Zack was doing form 4 fighting sequences with his lightsaber on top of the roof of the _Diversity._ He had been doing this for hours, fighting through the exhaustion but his body could only take a little more of his intense training. He completed the last moves before he deactivated his lightsaber and rested on his slightly bent knees. Sweat was slowly dripping down his face while he tried to regain his breath and still his painfully beating heart.

He closed his eyes and saw flashes of him fighting Saza and then losing to her. That was followed by images of Lona when they were together and happy but those images were taken away only to be replaced by images of her death and her body lying there... lifeless...

"Haaa!" Zack screamed as he launched himself into the same sequence of moves. After half an hour later, he collapsed onto the floor.

He was drenched in sweat and could do nothing but stare up at the twinkling stars as he blinked some of the sweat away from his eyes. Dyna came into view and looked down at her master. "Hey," she said with a half full mouth.

"Why is it everytime I see you, you have something in your mouth?" Zack said as he got up to a sitting position.

Dyna shrugged before she sat beside him and broke off bar she was eating in half. She gave one piece to him and he accepted it gratefully. "I thought I'd watch you train, thinking maybe I'd learn something."

Zack sighed, "I know I haven't been training you lately. I'm sorry. I'm not being much of a teacher, huh?"

"It's okay. I understand." The Twi'Lek girl said. They kept quiet for several moments, silently looking at the large moon in the horizon sky. "I'm worried," Dyna quietly said, breaking the relative silence. "Sometimes... I wish that you and Buck didn't go. I don't want to lose anyone else."

Another short moment of silence stretched between them before Zack dispelled it. "You won't. We'll all come back and then we can get back to your Jedi lessons."

Dyna smiled at this as she continued to stare at the beautiful moon.

/

Canoe Ida had to jog to catch up to Saza who was walking through the prison hallways. "Inquisitor Ripper! Inquisitor Ripper!" Canoe said jogging to catch up. Once he did, she did not bother stopping.

"Yes Lieutenant Ida," Saza said.

Canoe walked up beside her. "Ma'am, I heard that we are to stay further here."

"At least your not deaf." Saza said.

"The men of our squad are asking why," Canoe said.

" _Our_ squad?" Saza said. "It's _my_ squad."

"Uhm... sorry, your squad." Canoe said.

"Did they elect you to ask me?" Saza asked.

"More or less," Canoe said.

Saza suddenly stopped and faced him. "So they know what I know."

Canoe raised his eyebrow, "What's that?"

"That you're my favourite," Saza smiled at Canoe's expression before continuing her walk. "Tell the squad that we'll be staying here for five standard days and then we'll leave."

"May I ask why?" Canoe said.

"I have a hunch that the rebels are coming." Saza said.

"Here?" Canoe sounded shocked. "Wait, do you think they'll try to rescue Ru' Bik?"

"Most likely," Saza said.

"But that doesn't make sense. He's... he's..."

"Not worth the risk?" Saza offered. "I agree." Saza stopped in front of a prison cell. "The man is a rebel sympathiser. He has given them credits and property but he knows nothing. We should know, we've broken him." Saza stared at the outline of a short humanoid lying in the corner.

Canoe instantly knew that it was Ru' Bik. However, his form was slumped, he looked exhausted and demoralised. "You have really broken him," Canoe whispered to himself.

"He has no valuable Rebel information, so I'm starting to believe that the crusade to free him is one fuelled by compassion or even love or something similar. But I definitely know that Buck Johnson is not doing this out of money or for the rebel cause." Saza walked away leaving Canoe to linger for a while, staring at Ru' Bik, a shadow of the Vultan he used to be.

Canoe then ran to join Saza. "Wait, you think that Bu... Corporal Johnson will try to free him again."

"He no longer holds a military position since his treasonous activities, Lieutenant Ida." Saza reminded him. "But yes, that is what I believe." Saza stopped, ensuring that he stopped too. "Remember when I said you could go far with me, Lieutenant Ida."

"Yes," Canoe said.

"And how highly do you value the Stormtroopers?" Saza asked.

"The Stromtroopers is all I have."

Saza smiled at this. "I will give you two big promotions after this whole thing on the condition that when Buck Johnson comes... you'll kill him."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Vico was a well off planet with many resources and bustling market. For a planet on the outer rim, it was doing well for itself and as such was a good place to leave Dyna. The Twi'Lek girl in question was not very happy to hear this. She was pouting and had her arms crossed rather crossly while Buck tried to explain to her the importance of her staying on the planet.

"Look, it's a safe place for you and after we make the prison break we'll fetch you." Buck assured her.

Dyna folded her arms and partly looked away while pouting. "But I don't wanna stay on this stinking planet!"

"Dyna, we don't want you in danger." Buck tried to reason.

"Ever since I've been with you guys I've been in danger and now that we're in the final stretch, you want me on the bench?" Dyna complained.

"Is that a sports metaphor? When did you learn sprots metaphors?" Buck asked with mirth in his voice and a smile on his face but it only made Dyna seemingly more angry. Buck sighed and was thankful at the timely arrival of Zack and Kisto, who were pushing two hovering boxes, one short and the other longer. "Oh, you're back!" Buck said to Zack specifically. "Please talk to her." Buck said gesturing to Dyna. "We'll see each other again." Buck said giving her an awkward, playful jab to the shoulder before helping Kisto with the box.

"What's wrong?" Zack asked standing in Buck's place.

"I want to go with you guys!" Dyna said.

"Are you crazy?" Zack said. "We can't take you with us. Didn't Buck tell you its going to be dangerous?"

"That's all you guys ever say!" Dyna said. "Wasn't I there when you we got on the Star Destroyer to save Ru'... Ru'... Buck's friend?"

"You were b..."

"Wasn't I useful?" Dyna asked.

"You were but that was because they were expecting us and we needed you there." Zack said. "This time they'll have no idea that were coming, so you won't be needed."

"Geez, thanks for telling me I'm useless." Dyna said.

"You know that's not what I meant." Zack said with an annoyed tone. "You'll be okay. Kisto tells me that the people he is leaving you with are good friends of his."

Dyna sighed. "Fine."

Zack patted her head. "We'll see you later kid."

A few minutes later, Dyna watched as _Diversity_ with _Lona's Room_ attached to it take off for the prison planet Ekadi.

/

"It feels weird going on a big mission without _my_ ship." Kisto said while at the controls of the _Diversity._

"It feels strange to be going in a mission with _you_." Zack said.

Kisto smiled at this. "Well get used to it."

"We're approaching the planet." Buck said.

"Alright then, prepare to cloak the ship's signal." Kisto said, prompting Buck to leave his seat and go to the storage room of the ship.

In the storage room there were the boxes they had brought with them. The contents of the box were a gift from some of Kisto's contacts. Buck pressed a button and the box came apart. In the box was a cylindrical machine. Buck pressed a few buttons on the side of the machine and it blinked to life. "The scrambler is on," Buck said to his communicator.

"Okay, now boys let me do the talking." Kisto said as he brought the ship closer to the planet's atmosphere.

"Unknown ship, you are entering restricted airspace. Identify yourself." A formal voice said from the communicator.

"Ekadi Central Control, this is supply ship EEZ-3." Kisto said. "We request access to the planet to deliver supplies."

The man who had been communicating with Kisto looked at his commanding officer, The Warden of the Ekadi prison. "Scan the ship and check if it's on schedule," The Ward said.

"Supply Ship EEZ-3, standby for scanning." The man said as the ship was being scanned.

Everyone on the _Diversity_ was on edge as the scan took place. Time passed painfully slowly while they waited to see if they would be shot down or welcomed. Zack looked nervously at Kisto who gave him a cocky smile to mask his own anxiety.

Buck sat alone i the storage room next to the signal cloaker. The cylindrical machine was not only meant for hiding their own signal but also broadcast a false signal that was identical to the supply ship they were pretending to be.

"You have been cleared EEZ-3." The operator said.

Everyone on the ship breathed a sigh of relief. Kisto entered the atmosphere of the planet and once he was past the planetary defences, he began flying off course and away from Ekadi prison facility. "Now to find a landing spot that will be well concealed." Kisto said looking at the land below with his keen eyes.

The planet Ekadi had a red tinted rocky outcrop with a reddish atmosphere to match. The imposing Ekadi prison facility was the only mark of life or anything man made. The structure had a high electrified wall that acted as the border for the sprawling building that towered above everything except for the numerous red rocky mountains of the planet.

Kisto was looking for a spot to land the ship where patrolling ships could not spot it by eye. This was a task made difficult as most of the land was uneven with protruding mountain sized structures, making landing ships hard.

"Kisto, don't move us to far away from the prison facility!" Buck said when he noted that they were still flying away from their target.

"I can't help it." Kisto said. "This place is really awful for landing ships and considering I have extra baggage in the form of another ship I'm lugging around."

"I still say we should just go directly to the facility and take our chances." Zack said sinking deeper into his chair when he saw the hike they would have to make to get back close to the prison.

"Yeah that makes sense." Kisto said sarcastically. "Let's just enter the prison facility hanger and when they ask us why our ship is so small for a supply ship, we can say: that's because we're supplying rebels!" Kisto looked around. "There, I found a spot!" Kisto exclaimed.

Buck and Zack looked down at the small opening on the land below.

"Uhm... isn't that a bit too small?" Buck asked just as Kisto was landing the ship. The ship scraped the sides of the raised rocky terrain causing Buck to uncharacteristically swear beneath his breath.

The ship finally touched down, eliciting a sigh of relief from both Zack and Buck. "You guys should doubt me less. I'm probably the best pilot you've ever had in your company," Kisto boasted.

"Whatever, let's just arm up and get moving." Zack said.

/

Buck put on his Stromtrooper armour, completed with te white helmet which was already collecting bumps and scratches from its long time use. He took the standard Stormtrooper rifle that he always carried with him but this time added to his arsenal with a pistol and a vibro blade Along with this he took a backpack that had the rest of their weaponry, which included smoke, shock and explosive grenades. Kisto took two twin pistols that he placed in two holsters strapped to his thighs. The Twi'Lek took a backpack with more equipment, that he suspected they would need for the hike and breaking in. Zack took only his trusty lightsaber and supplies for the trip, also in a backpack.

They all met up at the ship entrance. Zack looked confused at the long rectangular box at the door. This was one of the boxes that Kisto had them load.

"Alright, we're all ready." Buck said.

"Yeah we are." Zack said. "But I have a question. If the plan is for us to break into the prison and break prisoners out and then have the ship come fetch us so that we can make our timely escape, whose going to fly the ship to fetch us at the prison?"

"That's what this is for," Kisto said walking to the long box. He pressed a button and the box opened up violently like a flower. Inside there was a bipedal blue and partially rusted droid.

"Oh finally, I-I-I-I I am out." The droid said twitching.

"He's a pilot droid that will fetch us when we give him the signal." Kist said.

"N-N-N-N-Nice to meet meet yo _uuuu."_ The droid said extending its arm in a friendly handshake.

"This thing doesn't look like it can walk, let alone pilot a ship." Buck commented.

"Nah, ol' Sparky will do the job just fine!" Kisto said patting the droid in a friendly manner, which caused its head to drop off its shoulder and rolled onto floor.

"O-O-O-O-Oh dea _rrrrr_." The droid said as it began chasing its head.

"Nice to see you spared no expense." Zack said not bothering to hide the disgust in his voice.

Sparky was able to retreave its head and screw it back onto its mechanical shoulders. "Sparky close the door after us." Kisto said before opening the ship door, which dropped out as a ramp.

Zack was the first out and stopped when he realised that the ramp led to nothing. He inched closer to look over the edge and saw a steep drop to the rocky ground below. "You landed this thing on the edge huh?" Zack said. "You guys be careful." He said as he walked to the side of the ramp and exited there, followed by Buck and Zack.

They walked on the narrow walkway where on one side was the sheer drop below. They got to a plane where it was wide enough for them to walk more comfortably and there was no cliff drop on either side. Ahead they saw the looming shadow of the Ekadi prison facility which they began walking for.

/

The trek was difficult for the three rebels. They would sometimes have to climb up, rocky inclines, with sharp rocks growing up from them. To compound on the difficulty, strong continuous winds would sometimes pick up. After an hour of walking, they realised that they would not be able to reach the prison facility in the time they had hoped, however they kept on. They eventually reached a fairly gentle and smooth landscape, allowing them to walk comfortably.

Buck stopped and knelt down on the ground, inspecting a maroon, leafy plant. He gently passed his finger through the small plant's three leaves.

"Is there something wrong?" Zack said, noting Buck's stop.

"I was just admiring this plant." Buck said looking up at Zack. Zack's face was reflected in the visors of his Stormtrooper helmet. "It's amazing that there would be naturally occurring life on this planet. Gives a whole new meaning to life as we don't know it."

"You'd be surprised how much life there is in the galaxy." Zack said looking around the mostly barren red planet. "My masters once told me that if the universe was barren of life, then the force would have no where to flow through. Even here, on this supposedly 'dead' planet, I can feel the Force. There is life here."

Buck smiled behind his visor and caressed the little plant.

"Hey, what are..." Kisot spat out, "...you two doing?" He finished before spitting out again.

"Nothing," Buck and Zack said simultaneously.

"Can we please get moving!" Kisto said before spitting out a few more times.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Zack said passing him by which caused the Twi'Lek to also resume walking.

"The last gust of wind blew dust into my mouth!" Kisto said.

"Maybe you should walk with your mouth closed." Buck said.

"Easy for you to say Mr. Stormtrooper helmet," Kisto sneered.

Zack stopped when he felt an eerie feeling through the Force. He looked behind him at the multiple rock structures , that were forming something of a maze wall around them.

"What's wrong?" Kisto asked, which caused Buck to stop.

"Ever had the feeling that your being... watched?" Zack said.

"Are you getting that feeling?" Buck asked curiously.

Zack stopped for a moment as he looked around suspiciously before sighing. "Never mind." They began walking on to their destination. As they walked a pair of hidden red eyes followed their progress, waiting for its opportunity.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note**

Weaaaaaah! What is wrong with me?! I posted chapter 19 directly after chapter 17 and only found out last week. Sorry to all those who read 19 and got confused. Well here's the proper chapter 1.

Note to self: Next time don't be such a lazy butt and actually name your chapters. That way you may not post the wrong ones.

Well, since I'm here I might as well do something that I don't think the readers need me to do but because I value whatever little money and time in the sunshine I have, I'll do it anyway.

 **Disclaimer Alert!**

The concept of Star Wars or any characters originally appearing in LucasFilm or Disney media (not limited to print and video) do not belong to me. Yay for not getting sued!

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

The Stromtrooper armour that Buck had on had begun to be tainted red with a layer of dust. They had entered a more maze-like structure with raised rock walls and sometimes uneven ground. The maze however could easily be navigated through to the other side.

Zack was walking ahead, followed by Buck and Kisto was behind the, trying to keep up. "Aren't any of you tired?"

The two humans turned and looked back at Kisto. Buck had been through a tough Stromtrooper training so he could soldier on, even as his legs began throb with exhaustion. Zack, on the other, was driven by something else. So for him, exhaustion had not even creeped into his muscles.

"No," they both said to Kisto.

"Well, I am." Kisto said. "We should rest for a bit."

"We need to get to the prison as soon as possible." Zack said. "Right Buck?"

Buck kept quiet for a while, which made Zack sigh in irritation. "Maybe we should rest." Buck said.

"You just have to disagree with me on everything, don't you?" Zack said.

"Better to rest now while we still can." Buck said, ignoring his tone. "And anyways, this will give us a chance to hydrate and get some food into us."

"Food food food, honestly, you're as bad ad Dyna." Zack said.

"I am not!" Buck defended himself.

"Guys, please, I don't have the energy to pry you two apart when you start fist fighting." Kisto said as he walked between them and slid down the side of the wall onto the ground into a sitting position.

Zack and Buck exchanged hateful looks as they also began sitting down. Buck took off his helmet and breathed in a grateful gulp of air. He looked up at the red sky and the red tinted clouds. "Do you guys think this planet has a night time?" Buck said before taking a swig of water from his bottle.

"Probably does," Kisto said. "the planet orbits a single star, so it most likely has a night time."

"Why are you guys talking about night time?" Zack asked, annoyed.

"I'm just trying to make conversation." Buck said.

"We can make conversation when were walking. When we are not, I suggest we sit down rest as quickly as possible and then leave." Zack said.

Buck sighed loudly before eating his cracker. A few minutes after silently resting a pebble fell from above and landed next to Kisto. Kisto looked at the pebble and then up to where it may have come from. There was nothing on the rocky walls above him so he shrugged. A shower of dust suddenly began falling from above, which caused Kisot to jump to his feet. Boulders soon followed ,raining from above. Zack had to pull Kisto out of the way of a giant boulder that would have flattened him. Buck grabbed his helmet and rolled away just a as a giant boulder crashed onto where he had been sitting.

Soon the cave-in ended. In between Buck and the other rebels was a wall of red rocks of different sizes. He cautiously approached the wall of rocks. "Hey, are you guys okay?" Buck shouted to the other side.

"Yeah, we're okay!" Zack answered. "What about you?"

"No broken bones or anything." Buck said. "But now this thing is blocking me!"

"Can you climb over it?" Zack asked.

"It looks unstable!" Buck said. "And it would take too long for me to climb on the sides."

"Great!" Zack said.

"There was a left tunr that we passed a while back," Buck said. "I'll just retrace my steps to it and continue moving on through a different path heading west. I'll find you guys at the west end where this structure ends."

"Good," Kisto's voice sounded from Buck's communicator. "Hopefully we'll meet on the way. Keep your communicator on."

"Copy that," Buck said to his communictor before putting it away and returning his helmet on his head. He began walking the way he had come.

"Let's continue," Kisto said.

Zack felt a little apprehensive and lingered a little longer at the rock structure. He had a bad feeling for some reason.

"Zack?" Kisto said.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Zack said walking away from the wall of collapsed stones.

/

Buck finally found the correct place and soon was on the right track to heading west. After a few minutes of walking, he heard a sound behind him and he turned around with his blaster raised. There was nothing. Buck shrugged it off as his imagination before resuming the trek westwards.

As oon as Buck turned forward, his stalker resumed following him. The creature was a large worm-like being. It had two giant red beady eyes at the top of its long head. It was fat with an uneven surface and narrowed out at its tail. One could see that it was white but was unevenly dyed red and maroon over most its surface thanks to the red earth of the planet. It crawled on the side of the wall, following Buck.

It was spurred on to quickly advance on the unsuspecting man. The former Stormtrooper turned around in time to see the creature on the side of the wall. He raised his blaster rifle but the creature spat out a spherical green blob which exploded on Buck upon contact, driving him on his butt and his gun away. Buck drew his pistol form his holster and began firing out desperately blindly as his visor was covered in green goop. He wiped with one hand while completely missing the creature with his pistol being fired by his other hand.

When he had successfully cleared the goop from his visor, well enough to see, he took proper aim but his gun was knocked from his hand by a fast moving projectile which looked like a spear. Buck had no chance to question where the spear came from as the beast had now slithered over him. He raised his hands in defence as the giant worm opened its mouth and descended on him.

"Naaaaaaooo..." Buck's scream of horror were cut short when the creature devoured him in one whole bite. The creature faced up to assist in swallowing the whole man. On its back was a small creature sitting on a saddle attached to the creature. The little humanoid creature seemed to be the one controlling the giant worm as it turned away and disappeared amongst the rocks after having completly devoured Buck.

/

Kisto and Zack waited at the west end of the rocky maize like structure as they had agreed upon with Buck. They sat on a rock together while they waited.

The silence was beginning to get to Zack and attempted to start a conversation. "So, how is this planet's night time, huh?"

Kisto looked at him with an amused look on his face, "Really?"

"What? I'm tired of waiting!" Zack said getting up from the rock. "How long have we been waiting anyways?"

"A standard hour or so," Kisto said.

"That is too long." Zack said taking out his communicator. "Buck, where are you? Kisto and I are still waiting for you?" Zack kept quiet for some time to give Buck a chance to answer. "Buck? Buck come in?"

"Maybe he's preoccupied?" Kisot offered.

"Buck Johnson? Mr. Boy scout? No, if he said he would have his communicator on him, he will. If he doesn't, then something is seriously wrong." Zack said.

"So you think he's in trouble?" Kisto said.

Zack nodded thoughtfully. "This will be another delay but I think we should go after him."

"What if he makes it out and doesn't find us here because we went in to find him?" Kisto asked.

Zack dug out a holo-disk from his backpack.

"Hey, isn't that the holo-disk I..."

"Yes it is," Zack said. Zack pressed a few buttons before holding the holo-disk in front of him. "Buck, this is Zack. We got worried waiting for you, so we're going out to look for you. If you arrive before we find you... wait." Zack said before turning the holo-disk off. Zack placed the holo-disk on the boulder. "Let's hope he sees it," Zack said. "Alright, which path should we take?"

Kisto looked at the different entrances of the maize. "Whichever path we take, it won't make this less of a bad idea."

"Left it is!" Zack said walking forward into a rightward entrance and being followed by a reluctant Kisto.

A few minutes later into the structure, Kisto and Zack still were not finding Buck.

"Buck! Buck! Buck!" Zack and Kisto shouted out.

"We shouldn't have stopped to rest," Zack said. "Now we've lost one of our members."

"Buck!" Kisto shouted out. "Hopefully we don't get lost ourselves."

A few more minutes of searching they finally found something.

"Hey, what's that?" Kisto said pointing to something. They both walked to the spot. Kisto picked up a pistol. "Isn't this the pistol Buck had?"

"Yes, it is." Zack confirmed before looking around. He saw some green substance on the floor. "What is this?" Zack asked crouching near the green stuff.

Kisto joined him at his side. Kisto withdrew his pistol and made the edge touch the green substance which acted like slime.

"Yuck!" Zack said.

"What, I'm not touching it." Kisto defended his actions.

"But you will be touching your gun later." Zack said.

Kisto ignored him as he brought his gun blaster closer to his face and took a whiff of the substance. "I don't know what this is but things are looking bad. His pistol is here and he's not answering his communicator."

"Do you think someone attacked him?" Zack asked. "But why did he not contact us? Ask for help or warn us?"

"Maybe he didn't have a chance." Kisto said. "Maybe he was ambushed quickly."

Zack got to his feet and took a deep breath. "Then we need to find him."

"Zack... I don't know how to say this but Buck may already be dead." Kisto said.

"Well, if his dead," Zack began, "then we'll kill whoever or whatever killed him."

/

The worm arrived at a group of caves. Creatures, similar to the one riding the giant worm began to slowly come out of the numerous caves. They began to gather around the worm rider. Some of them had spears, a little taller than their bodies and others had grass skirts, tinted red. The creatures were mostly red with black hands, feet and face with yellow eyes. They had three fingers and two toes that were like a cross between hoofs and hands. The tallest of the creatures were hip height.

One of the creatures hobbled over to the giant monster worm rider. This one was obviously older than all the other bipedal creatures and had a green circular reed around its neck. The elder creature and the one on the worm began exchanging sounds that involved a lot of clicking and whining noises. This continued for some time until the worm rider patted his worm on the back three times.

The creature began coughing out air until something began sliding out of its mouth. The creature regurgitated something that was man-sized and in white armour. The elder creature hobbled closer to the newly dumped package. The regurgitated package, covered in green slime, was in a transparent cacoon. In the cacoon was Buck, whose arms were trapped to his side while his body did not move.

The elder creature looked out to the other assembled creatures and began making more sounds. One of the creatures made a high pitch clicking sound, followed by another, then two more joined, this continued until all the creatures made the same noise.

/

Kisto and Zack were still looking around. Zack pulled Kisto behind a rock and gestured for the Twi'Lek to keep quiet before pointing to something in the distance. They saw a small red creature with a spear.

Kisto looked at it curiously. "You think that thing may know something about Buck?"

"How about we ask it?" Zack said, sneaking forward. When he got close enough to the creature, he jumped out of his hiding place while activating his lightsaber. "Hey! I have a few questions for you!"

The startled creature began running away at the sight of Zack. Zack sighed before giving chase. The creature turned around and threw a spear at Zack. Zack was lucky that the throw was ill-aimed and knicked him on the cheek. However, the creature had made the mistake of slowing down which gave Zack an opportunity to catch up to it.

"Haaaa!" Zack shouted before he swung out with his lightsaber. He cut off an arm and the creature screamed out but continued to run away. Zack stopped and allowed his adrenaline to to ebb.

Kisto finally caught up and saw the little twitching arm on the ground. "You didn't have to attack it!" Kisto shouted in anger. "Now it's escaped."

"No," Zack said, looking at the trail of blood the creature had left behind in its flight. "I simply slowed it down by hurting it. Now we follow it to where it lives."

/

Buck began coming around. He was firstly aware of being surrounded by little red and black creatures. Next he noted that he was partly on his knees. His arms were bound to two rocks that jutted out of the ground like two fangs. He tested the reed-like bonds binding him and found he could not free himself.

"Hey, where am I?" Buck said.

The elder creature with the green reed necklace began walking towards Buck. It began making sounds and clicks that formed part of its language.

"I-I'm sorry but I don't understand what you're saying." Buck said. "Can you please release me?"

The elder creature poked Buck with his walking stick. "You white man," the creature said in Basic. "You die!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Sigh, I couldn't post a chapter last week as it was not ready. Maybe I'll do another double post to make up for last week. Well since I'm doing this, I might as well do this

 **Disclaimer's Alert!**

I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters originally appearing in any of the formats (including print (except this) and video). Yay, for not owning things that don't belong to you!

* * *

"I'm not who you think I am," Buck said, renewing his efforts on breaking his bonds. "I'm not this white man you're talking abou..." Buck began before realising that his Stormtrooper gear was white and to make things worse, the red dirt that had previously covered it was gone as he had been bathed in the monster worm's internal digestion juices. This made his armour whiter than a few hours ago. "Whoa, this is not what you think."

"Cannot trick me. White man cannot trick me, white man cannot trick the Cloubits." The small creature said. The word Cloubits made the other creatures shout in unision.

"Cloubits? Is that what you guys are? I-I'm not an enemy of the Cloubits."

"Lie! White man enemies of Cloubits!" The elder creature said.

There was a sudden sound and commotion in the Cloubits settlement. One of their own, stumbled into the village with its arm cut off. The Cloubit stumbled amongst its own kind , before collapsing. Buck saw the blood coming from the small creature and knew instinctively that it was dead.

Buck's death was postponed as they focused on the newly dead Cloubit.

/

"Well done, you killed it." Kisto whispered in disgust as he and Zack were watching the scene unfold from behind their hiding place. They had finally found the Cloubit Zack had disarmed. Initially it was difficult to track it but after it had lost a majority of its blood, it began to slow down, making it easier for the two to find it, assited with the trail of blood its grevious wound left behind.

"It worked, didn't it?" Zack said indifferently. "And look..." Zack said pointing to Buck who was still tied in the middle of the settlement that was dotted with caves that acted as the Cloubits' homes. "We found our trooper."

Kisto looked at Buck. "It looks like he's in trouble."

"Yeah, we need to kill these things and save him." Zack said.

"What? No, we can negotiate with them." Kisto said.

"Negotiate? Look at what they're about to do to Buck," Zack said as the Cloubits began pointing their spears at Buck angrily. "Do those look like creatures that can be reasoned with?"

"That means nothing. I'm not helping you to kill any more of them. We can talk to them." Kisto said.

"You talk to them," Zack said before stepping out of his hiding place and activating his lightsaber, "I'll save Buck."

/

Zack walked into the settlement. The elder Cloubit looked surprisingly at Zack. He ran to the assembled Cloubits. There was clicking and then a few spears were thrown. This forced Zack to dive to the side to dodge the volleys. One of the Cloubits ran to the giant monster worm that was watching everything with interest. The worm rider got onto his monster and directed it to Zack.

Zack dived to the side just before the monster had the chance to eat him. The worm rider threw a spear at Zack, who broke it apart with a swipe of his lightsaber. Zack then leapt into the air with the lightsaber above his head, ready to bring it down on either the worm or its rider. However, Zack was swatted to the side by a white bulbouse tail of the worm.

While all the attention of the Cloubits were on Zack and the battling worm, Kisto snuck behind them to where Buck was.

"Hey," Kisto whispered to Buck, which startled him.

"Kisto! Thank goodness you're here." Buck said as Kisto began working on the bonds. He was able to free one hand and Buck began helping him with the other vine tying him but some of the Cloubits noticed them. "Oh oh!"

One of the Cloubits that spotted him threw a spear at Buck who was still trapped. Buck raised his arm defensively and the spear uselessly broke against the tough, white amrour around his forearm. The Cloubits began charging at them.

"Forget this!" Kisto said before taking out his pistol. He aimed at the rock Buck's arm was tied to and let a shot out. There was a small explosion and Buck was freed.

Regaining full mobility, Buck grabbed a spear that was thrust to his face and punched the Cloubit who had wielded it. The other Cloubits used their spear to take him off his feet at which Kisto had to save him by firing a few warning shots.

Meanwhile, Zack dodged another tail swipe. The worm spat out a ball of green blob which he rolled to the side to dodge the projectile, which exploded on the ground next to him. The creature was able to advance on Zack while he was still getting up. It tried once again to eat Zack but e was able to jump back to avoid its mouth. Zack swiped at its head, opening a wound. The monster reared up and screamed in pain.

Zack gritted his teeth. He charged at the worm that had reared up and exposed its underside. He slashed at the worm's belly which caused it to howl even more in pain before finally dying. The worm rider was thrown off. It was visibly angry that its steed had been killed and grabbed its spear. The Cloubit and Zack circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. A few spears were hurled at Zack by other armed Cloubits but he was able to turn around and cut them in mid-air. This gave the worm rider a chance to strike. Zack turned around, cutting his spear and kicking him in the face.

Zack slowly advanced on the worm rider who was shuffling back on his butt, trying to get away from Zack. The worm rider reached an end when his back hit his dead monster worm. Another Cloubit stepped in front of the worm rider Cloubit. This new Cloubit was not armed but opened its arms wide protectively.

Zack looked at the newcomer as a nuisance and raised his lightsaber over his head, ready to strike the new Cloubit down.

Kisho and Buck had been surrounded by the spear armed Cloubits. "I'm reluctant to kill these things because they seem intelligent. But now, I'm starting to think I don't have a choice."

"Yeah, I don't think we'll have a choice soon." Buck agreed, standing back to back with Kisto.

The elder saw this and said a few commands to his people in his language. Buck and Kisto looked at him with confused expressions on their faces. "We not kill white man and friends. Friends do not kill Cloubits!"

Buck looked towards Zack who was about to kill the Cloubit protecting the worm rider. Zack brought down his lightsaber but stopped inches from the Cloubit's face when he heard Buck shout, "Zack, no!" Zack looked back at Buck who had his hands up. "Zack, I'm okay. There's no need for this."

Zack gritted his teeth but deactivated his lightsaber anyways. "Fine," he said under his breath.

/

"I told you before, we don't mean your people any harm." Buck said to the elder. The three rebels were standing together while the Cloubits surrounded them.

"All white man means us harm." The Cloubit elder said.

"But I don't. I'm not really a white man, I just look like them." Buck said. He saw the disbelief in the elder's face and decided to take off his helmet. The Cloubits all gasped in shock and exchanged words when they saw him take off his helmet. Buck placed the helmet under his arm. "I am different from the other Stromtroopers you have seen."

"Look, his dress sense needs a little work but we can vouch for him." Zack said. The elder Cloubit looked at Zack with a critical eye. "You the reason we don't attack." The elder pointed his small black finger at the lightsaber hanging from the human's hip. "You have weapon of Jedi."

"Can you believe that the people of this backwater planet know what a Jedi is?" Zack whispered to Kisto at his side.

"But you not fight like Jedi." The elder said.

"Yeah? And how would you know how a Jedi fights?" Zack said.

"It was long ago but my old mind remember. Rubit was here when Jedi Windu and Padawan Billaba came here once and saved my people." The elder said. "You not fight like Jedi at all. Too much rage."

"Whatever!" Zack said folding his arms over his chest.

"Sadly we need Jedi for my people are in trouble again." Ther elder said before beckoning the rebels to follow him. The elder Cloubit stopped in front of giant slab of rock with drawings. "My people live in happiness until the white man come." Rubit said gesturing to a drawn picture of figures that looked like Stromtroopers in white armour. "They came to our homes and took it when we refused to move." Cloubit pointed to another picture showing the Stormtroopers firing their weapons at fleeing figures that looked like Cloubits. "All lost their homes, many lost their lives. When they had our home they build the metal tower," Rubit said gesturing to the looming shadow of the Ekadi prison in the far distance. "When they see us, they kill my people."

"Yes, this... white men you're talking about are called Stormtroopers. They form part of an evil organisaition called The Empire" Kisto informed the elder Cloubit. "They are also our enemies. We've come here to stop them."

"To help us?" Rubit said.

"To be honest, we didn't even know that this planet was inhabited." The green Twi'Lek honestly said. "But I don't see any reason why we can't help each other. We share the same enemy."

"Hmm..." Rubit said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He made a sequence of sounds to the village which caused an eruption of noise from the rest of the villagers.

"What's going on?" Buck asked which earned an equally confused shrug from Zack.

The rebels watched as the villagers began speaking to each other. Some of the villagers looked like they were getting ready to fight each other. Rubit calmed them down until there was quiet and only he was speaking before even he went silent. There was a high pitched clicking noise from one of the villagers and it became a domino effect as more of the villagers began joining in, in making the high pitched clicking noise.

Rubit turned to the rebels.

"What's going on?" Zack asked.

"I told my people about you. Some want to help fight, some don't. We make vote to decide what to do."

"And..." Kisto said with great interest. "How did you vote?"

"We will help fight!" Rubit said raising his walking stick into the air which made caused an eruption of clicking noises from all the villagers.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

A former Stormtrooper stood at the top of a small rocky hill. He had his arms folded while looking at the shadowy structure in the far distance. The structure was the Ekadi Prison facility and it was the place where his goal laid. Zack appeared, walking up the rocky hill to join him.

"Don't think too deeply trooper." Zack joked. "Or your head will grow too big for your helmet."

Buck acknowledged Zack with a nod before returning his gaze to their ultimate target. "It feels like this is our last chance." Buck said. "Either we succeed or..." Buck sighed, reluctant to voice out the multiple possibilities of what would happen if they failed.

"This _is_ our last chance." Zack said also staring at the shadow on the distance. "But at least we have a better chance than we had last time. We do have an army of little men behind us." Zack said looking at the direction of the village of Cloubits.

"Are they done with their preparations?" Buck asked.

"Almost." Zack said. "But we are moving out in a few hours. With the Cloubits knowledge of the land we should arrive at Ekadi Prison in no time."

Buck took his helmet and put it in on his head. "Then let's get ready to go." He said looking at Ekai Prison.

/

"This can't be correct," The operator inside the control room said.

The prison warden came over to him. "What's the matter?"

"Sir, Supply Ship EEZ-3 is asking for permission to enter past the planet defences." The operator said.

The warden pulled at his goatee. "Is that not the supply ship that came by a rotation ago but never landed on the base?"

"Yes it is." The operator said. "We've done scans and like the previous ship, it checks out."

"Seems you've been tricked, Warden." Saza said, walking in from behind them. Following in her wake was Canoe. "It's obvious that one of these ships is a false one but I suspect it is the first one."

"Send TIE fighters to escort this ship to the base." The Warden said.

"I'd also suggest that you send out a patrol to look for the other ship." Saza said before turning around on her heels to leave.

"Yes ma'am." The Warden said, resisting the urge to sigh. He still remembered that Saza had commandeered his office which was making his life very hard.

Saza stopped beside Canoe and smiled with sinister, "See? I told you they would come. I hope you're ready to do what you have to do when the time comes." Saza said before walking away and out of the control room.

Canoe could not help sigh as he saw the green dot that represented the newly arrived supply ship. Canoe had hoped that Buck would not do something as idiotic as come to Ekadi. _Maybe there's still a chance that Buck is not involved in this,_ Canoe hopefully thought to himself. _Oh, who am I kidding, with my luck, Buck is leading the damn thing!_

/

Buck and Zack joined Kisto with the rest of the Cloubits. The village was standing around a Cloubit body that was being cremated.

"You guys have come back." Kisto said.

"I thought we were heading out." Buck said.

"There doing a... 'war funeral'." Kisto said. "The elder Cloubit told me that the death of the young Cloubit would mark the end of their oppression, since he was the last to be killed by the Stormtroopers before they decided to wage war."

"What?" Zack said as the Cloubits began singing. "But isn't that the Cloubit that I..."

Kisto held his hand up to keep Zack form speaking. "Right now, there's no need for them to believe any different, especially since we'll be allies in this fight."

Zack nodded and Buck stayed quiet but he got the gist of what happened to the Cloubit boy.

After the war funeral, most of the Cloubits left with the rebels, leaving few behind to tend to the ones too old and young to fight. The fighting Cloubits took spears, sharp rocks and some carried large logs in groups. This was all in preparation for the attack on Ekadi.

/

The convoy of warriors walked together in the rocky land. They had to enter a tunnel which needed them to walk in twos to fit. The tunnel acted as a concealed short cut that ensured that they did not have to climb up the rough and often inclined terrain.

Buck was the first rebel to exit through the cave exit; of course he was preceded by a few Cloubits as some of them led the way. As soon as he stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel he was tackled to the ground by two Cloubits. His hand instinctively reached for his blaster but stopped when the Cloubit gestured for him to calm down and remain still.

Understanding the Cloubits request, Buck did as he was beckoned and remained still. He was rewarded with the sight of two ships flying past overhead, having not seen him because of the outcropping rocks surrounding them. Buck breathed a sigh of relief as he spied on the ships disappearing in the horizon. He looked back at the Cloubits that had tackled him and nodded his thanks.

Kisto and Zack also followed a few standard minutes later. Buck explained to them what had happened and the news seemed to worry Kisto the most.

"This is bad," Kisto said in deep thought. The Twi'Lek rubbed his chin as he mauled over what the appearance of the two patrol ships meant. "If they are sending out ships, that means they're looking for ours."

"Why would they be looking for our ship?" Zack asked.

"Remember we used the signal of a supply ship that we confirmed was on its way here." Kisto said.

"Oh! That supply ship must have arrived..." Zack said in realisation.

"And now our cover is blown." Kisto completed his sentence. "

I guess we've lost the element of surprise... again." Buck said.

"Not necessarily." Zack said. "All they know is that a ship conned its way past their defences but they don't know it's us. And even if they did, I don't think they'll be expecting us to bring in a small army."

"Hmm, Zack makes a good point." Kisto said.

"Rebels, you stay behind!" The elder warned before turning his back and joining the flow of the Cloubits.

The three rebels decided to end their meeting and catch up to the Cloubits.

/

Some of the Cloubits had gathered around something. Buck approached them slowly so as not to scare them off. He was still getting murderous looks from some of the Cloubits as he wore the unform of their sworn enemies so he had to be careful around some of them. He approached the group and ignored the sneers, or at least what he thought were sneers, from some of the Cloubits. He saw that they had surrounded Elder Rubit and were helping him to his feet.

"Are you okay, Rubit." Buck asked with concern.

"Yes. I fine whi... Buck." Rubit said getting to his feet and continuing his walk while some of the Cloubits flanked him protectively.

"I don't understand why you're coming with us, Rubit." Buck said. "Won't you be uhh..." Buck tried to find the right words without sounding insulting, "in too much danger during the battle."

Rubit gave a coarse laugh. "I only one, who speaks Basic. You need me."

Buck nodded. He saw some of the Cloubits diverge from the main group to take a different path. "Where are they going?" Buck said nodding towards the fast disspaearing group.

"They get other... _livers_ on planet." Rubit said.

"Livers?" Buck repeated the word. "Oh, you mean people who live on the planet. Inhabitants."

"In-Inhabitants." Rubit repeated the unfamiliar word. "Yes, inhabitants."

 _So there'll be more Cloubits to join us, that's good._ Buck thought to himself.

/

The group reached Ekadi prison undetected and quickly thanks to the Cloubits extensive knowledge of the land. The small Rubit looked up at the tall wall that reached far above any Cloubits head. In fact, the wall reached far above even the three rebels' heads.

"This is going to be quite a climb." Zack said.

The Cloubits produced long logs they placed the wooden logs against the imposing grey wall. Cloubits and Zack began climbing up three logs that had been set up. One of he Cloubits got on top of the log and looked up at the distance that was left to climb to. The Cloubit threw a rope to hook the top of the wall. When it used its legs to brace itself for the climb, it was electrocuted, causing it to fall off the log to its death.

Zack seeing this was very careful and heard Cloubits clicking and making noises which he assumed were orders for the Cloubits to stop. "Gees, thanks for warning me too." Zack said sarcastily as he began to climb down the log.

"The wall is electrified." Zack said looking at Kisto. "Didn't you know about this."

"The rebels knowledge about this prison is still heavily lacking." The green Twi'Lek said approaching the wall. He reached out which caused the Cloubits and Buck and Zack to gasp. Kisto touched the wall and flinched at the pain caused by the electricity flowing into his body through his arm. He kept his hand there for a few more moments before he took his hand away. "It looks like the voltage increases the higher you go. At this level it's painful but not fatal."

Under his red dirt stained helmet, Buck had his mouth agape. "So you weren't sure about that and just decided to put your hand there?" He shouted.

"I was testing a theory that I knew was most likely true." Kisto shrugged. "I've seen something similar to this wall before."

"We retreat to safe place for new plan." Rubit said as most of the Cloubits had taken down the logs and began walking away.

Kisto nodded and they followed the village.

/

"We'll need a new plan." Kisto said. "We can't expect our forces to scale the wall and not be discovered or killed."

"We could blow the wall up." Zack suggested. "I'm sure we're packing enough explosives to do it."

"I don't think we should risk it." Buck said. He had his helmet off to ease Rubit and some Cloubit warriors who were sitting in on the war meeting. "If we go in hot then we can get easily repelled by the prison forces."

"I agree. Do you have any ideas on how we can enter?" Kisto asked.

"Matter of fact I do." Buck said. "If a few of us can sneak in and cut the power off, we could make the wall safe for climbing for the rest of our forces."

"And then the rest of our forces can sneak in and attack." Zack completed his thoughts.

Buck nodded in agreement.

"Good plan but remember that the prison cells are operated by electricity." Kisto said. "If we take the power out then there's no way to free the prisoners."

"Then we'll free them after we take the base." Zack offered.

" _If_ we take the prison." Kisto corrected. "Even with our forces as they stand now, we still have the odds stacked against us."

"The Cloubits will fight and win!" Rubit said which made Zack smirk.

"You heard Rubit, we can do this!" Zack said.

"Forgive me Rubit. I meant no insult but I just want to increase our chances of winning." Kisto said. He drew a square and a circle around the square to represent the prison with its wall. "My original plan was to free the prisoners and arm most of them, most preferrebly the rebels and not whatever other criminals they have there, and start a two prong attack. One with our forces here attacking in and the other with the prisoners inside attacking out." Kisto said drawing an arrow from the square pointing to another arrow on the wall, which was pinted to the square."

"I think that can still be arranged." Buck said. "There are systems made to divert power from some sections of the prison to another. If we can divert the power from the wall we can give the Cloubits a chance to invade."

"Do you know how to do that? Do you know how to operate the prison's systems to achieve such an effect?" Kisto asked skeptically.

Buck kept quiet as he hesitated. "We'll find a way!" Zack spoke up for him.

"You are way to optimistic, Zack." Kisto scolded.

"Its not optimistism, its confidence." Zack said.

"Buck, talk to him." Kisto said.

Buck smiled at Zack. "Yeah, we'll find a way," he agreed with his crew member.

Kisto sighed loudly. "Fine." He reluctantly agreed to their crazy plan.

"If you enter place then you take two Cloubits and one of you must stay." Rubit said.

"I'm not staying!" Both Zack and Buck declared simultaneously.

Kisto rolled his eyes at that. "Fine, I'll stay with Elder Rubit."

Buck nodded his head. The Cloubits had seemed to like or tolerate Kisto better than he or Zack.

"Let's get ready to storm the prison." Kisto said.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Buck, Zack and Kisto stood together as they looked on at some of the Cloubits as they set up the log that they would use in their second attempt to climb the wall.

"Why did you call us here?" Zack asked Kisto.

The Twi'Lek looked around to ensure that Rubit was not around. "I wanted to remind you guys of our mission."

"Yeah we know." Zack began. "We break in, free the prisoners and take over."

"No, that's the Cloubits misssin, not ours." Kisto said. "We free the prisoners and at the first sign of things going bad, we leave this planet."

"What? You expect us to leave the Cloubits during battle?" Zack said.

"We can't afford to get too tangled up in their crusade." Kisto said.

"But we caused their crusade!" Zack said which caused both Kisto and Buck to caution him to keep his voice low.

"We can't afford to fail our mission, Zack." Kisto said. "I feel for the Cloubits, really I do. They are no different from the Rebels but in the grand scheme of things, freeing Ru' Bik and the other rebels is more important than their war."

"I can't believe you," Zack said. "Buck, say him he's wrong."

Buck hesitated. "I think he's right." He finally said.

"What?" Zack could not believe what he had just heard.

"The Cloubits don't stand a chance. Even if by some miracle we do take this prison facility, the Empire can simply send reinforcements to annihilate them and take back the facility. And after that, they may be less lenient with them."

Zack clenched his fists angrily and looked out to the small red and black huminoids. He began feeling sorry for them. They were isolated from the rest of the galaxy and suddenly had their homes invaded by foreigners from other worlds. They were outgunned and compared to the Empire, hopelessly outnumbered and there was nothing they could do to help them defeat their enemies.

"Look, we'll help them the best we can. We'll fight with them, advice them and stand by them" Kisto assured him. "But if things start to go too badly, then we'll escape and help them do the same... if it is possible."

/

"Hey you two!" Kisot said getting the attention of the two Cloubits who would go with Zack and Buck. "You'll need more useful weapons than spears if you're going to survive all on your own." Kisto knelt down and produced two blaster hand guns. He looked into the creatures faces and understood that they did not understand what he was saying. He showed the blaster to both of the Cloubits and gestured toward the trigger. He then aimed at a rock and pulled the trigger, causing a shaft of energy to speed out and explode off a chunk of the rock. Kisto then nodded and offered each of the Cloubits a handgun, which they gingerly accepted.

Buck and Zack were looking at the Twi'Lek from afar. Kisto went to them next and shoved his bag into Zack's arms. "There are a few weapons in here. Arm as many rebels as you can." Kisto produced a holo-disk and turned it on. Holograms of the busts of rebels showed from the holo-disk. "These are the rebels known to be in the prison."

Zack nodded and took the holo-disk.

"Good luck guys." Kisto said before they walked towards the log propped against the wall.

They began to climb up, each carrying a smaller log. A Clobit was leading the climb, followed by Buck and then another Cloubit before Zack brought up the rear. The leading Cloubit stopped when it was at the end of the log and allowed Buck to climb over him. Buck grabbed on to the rope that was previously thrown by the dead Cloubit that gotten electrocuted.

Buck gingerly placed a palm against the electrified wall. There were sparks against his suit of Stormtrooper armour but except for a little pinch, he did not feel the electricity. He began climbing up the wall using the side as a foot hold. He took the piece of log that they were carrying with him. At the top of the wall, he wedged the log in between the top of the wall and the electrified wires at the top. He proceeded to the wedged log and cut the wires apart.

"Okay, climb up." Buck whispered to them as he prepared the rope to climb down on the other side.

The Cloubit was the first to grab onto the rope, making sure that he did not touch the wall as Buck pulled him up. Once he was on top, they pulled Zack up and finally the last Cloubit before climbing down the other side, trying not to touch the wall again.

"Good, we all made it." Buck said once they were on the other side. "Now, let's get in." Buck said leading the way.

/

Canoe packed his things away with an uncontrollably wide smile on his face.

"Canoe, your smile is freakish." One of his collegues said. "What' gotten you so happy?"

"Today, we're getting off this stupid rock and our squad is going to be disbanded." Canoe said. "When I get home, I'm going to take a long break and then start hoping for easer duties."

"An easy duty? What like guarding prisoners?" His collegue teased. "You should just stay here then."

"I would," Canoe said. "But Ru'Bik is here and that guy attracts trouble."

/

The intruders snuck across the halls of the prison facilities. They were careful not to be spotted by anyone. "Hey! Who goes there?" A man said, seeing Buck and Zack sneaking around. An energy bolt suddenly entered the man's body, killing him.

Buck saw that it was one of the Cloubits that had killed them. He nodded to them in thanks before they continued on. After getting lost a few times, Buck was able to lead them to the energy control room. Buck opened the door and saw three service men. They were as surpised to see Buck as he was them.

"What are you doing here?" One of them asked. "Is there something worng?"

"Oh, no... nothing's wrong." Buck said. It was all ruined when one of the Cloubits walked past him and looked into the room making clicking sounds.

One of ther service men drew out a handgun and fired it at the Cloubit. Buck pushed the Cloubit behind a big machine for protection.

"That Stormtrooper just helped one of those creatures!" A serviceman said. "He's an imposter, raise the alarm!"

"No!" Buck said shooting out before he too was forced behind a machine to be protected from returning fire. He was joined by Zack and the other Cloubit. Zack activated his lightsaber and joined Buck.

"We need to stop them from raising the prison alarm." Buck said. "We can't allow them to warn the facility."

Zack nodded before he ran through the lines of machines. He became aware that he was chasing down two service men running for a panic button in the giant room with rows of white machines. One of them noted Zack and a Cloubit running parralles to them.

"Go, I'll hold him off." The serviceman said to the other before shooting at Zack who was forced to hide behind a machine.

Zack watched as the Cloubit chased after the other serviceman.

"This skirmish can't go on too long." Buck said to himself before he took out a small spherical ball. He risked peeking out from his hiding place before throwing the ball. The ball exploded into a cloud of smoke. Using the cover of smoke, Buck rushed forward and was surprised to see that the Cloubit had already done the same, taking out a few of the service men with its small spear and newly acquired blaster.

"Dammit!" Zack gritted his teeth as he was being pinned by the continuious gunfire from the service man. He jumped out of his hiding place and was able to deflect a laser bolt before getting to another hiding position, closer to the serviceman.

"You know you're going to die, right?" Zack said before running to the next hdining spot closer to the serviceman.

"Ha! We'll se about that!." The serviceman said as he shot out at the rebel's hiding spot.

Zack took a deep breath before running out from his hiding place straight to the serviceman. In his charge, he deflected two shots by pure luck while more missed him. Zack slashed out desperately and was able to not only destroy the service man's gun but also hurt his hand badly.

The service man screamed in agony beofree turning and running, however Zack was close behind.

The other Cloubit was still chasing down the other serviceman. The serviceman shot out at the Cloubit but thanks to its small size, the shots sailed harmlessly pasted it. It aimed with its blaster and shot the serviceman at the legs, causing him to collapse and drop his gun, which rolled and slid away from him.

The Cloubit raised its spear as it was getting dangerously closer to the fallen service man. However, before the Cloubti could finish the man off, a shot rang out that left a hole through its chest. The Cloubit fell to its knees as the last thing it saw was the other service man with a smoking blaster pointed at him before he fell to his face.

The serviceman had no chance to celebrate as his head was sent off his shoulders by a green lightsaber blade. Zack swore when he saw his fallen Cloubit comrade. The last standing serviceman began crawling to the panic button which was not far fom him now. As he his fingers reached the button, Zack cut his arm off before ending his life witha slash to the face.

He looked at the button and saw it flashing and realised that he had been too late and that the serviceman succeeded in warning the prison of their attack.

/

Saza Ripper was at the space hangar of Ekadi Prison. She was disappointed that she had run out of time and now had to vacate. _Did I read The Force wrong?_ She questioned herself. _I know I sensed The Force telling me that the force user and his rebel friends would come._ Saza dissapointedly thought to herself.

She saw Canoe, pushing boxes into the ship. He was hiding it well but the happiness that flowed out of him through The Force to her sickened her. She could understand though. He had wanted so badly to be doen wih this whole thing and now he was.

Saza became aware of someone running to her. "Ma'am, the Warden has asked me to tell you that there has been a panic buton pressed in the facility and has asked for your presence as a precautionary measure."

Saza smiled at this. The Force was right and she almost felt stupid for doubting it... almost. "Men, this is not over!" She said getting the attention of all her Stromtroopers. "The ReBels are attacking!"

At those words, Canoe lost all the colour from his face.

/

"Buck, I couldn't stop him." Zack said, carrying the dead body of the Cloubit who had gone with him. The other Cloubit looked at its fallen bretheren and said a few things in its language over the body while Zack and Buck discussed what they were going to do.

"So there'll be guards coming here soon." Buck said. "I was hoping for more time to figure things out."

"Maybe we could destroy everything." Zack said, raising his lightsaber to emphaisais his point.

"No, that might just shut the power off for the whole prison and we need the power on in some parts to free the prisoners."

"Then you better figure it out fast." Zack said.

Buck began running through the engine room desperately reading all the labels there. Zack joined him, looking at the labels and calling them out while the remaining Cloubit stood guard at the entrance.

"Hey Buck! I just found a machine labeled external defences!" Zack called out.

Buck ran to his side. "This could be what we're looking for." He said as he looked at the multitudes of numbers, flashing lights and buttons. Buck pressed a few buttos turning different lights on and off.

"Stop toying with the thing Buck." Zack said when he noticed a few of the lights flash off just to flash on again as Buck fiddled with the machine.

"I'm not toying with it." Buck said pressing another button before flipping a switch.

"You should press here..." Zack said pressing a button.

"Don't touch that," Buck said slapping his hand away.

"Did you just hit me?" Zack asked, holding back anger.

"You're interrupting me," Buck said.

"No, I'm helping you since you..."

"Your definition of help is not helping..."

They argued and tried to speak over each other as they flipped switches, pressed buttons and watched lights go on and off. The sound of a blaster shot made them fall quiet and then work better with each other.

They were finally able to get all the lights to turn off.

"There, that should do it." Buck said.

"Wait Buck," Zack said, his face in thought. "You said that the point was to divert the energy away from the outside wall. Did we successfully divert the energy or did we just open a pathway for the energy to flow out."

"I'm not sure." Buck thought. "The second option is probably likely."

"We should mess with the other machines." Zack said moving on to the next machine. Buck joined him and they began pressing buttons until all the lights were on.

There were more sounds of blaster fire, prompting them to abandon their task, hoping for the best before assisting their Twi'Lek ally.

/

Kisto was sitting on a rock. He looked up when he felt that something was missing. He questioned himself, wandering what was missing. His eyes went wide when he realised what it was: a hum. Before, he had not paid attention to it but there was a slight hum that the wall gave off but now it had stopped. The missing hum made him feel ike a fish suddenly finding itself out of water. Like a man living on Cirrasso and then suddenly finding himself on the moon without gravity. He was unsure if the hum had ever even existed. Maybe he was imaginingt hings.

Kisto looked around and he saw that the Cloubits had also reacted. They seemed surer that something had changed and were looking at the wall and him expectantly. Kisto sighed before walking to the wall. He reached out slowly and carefully until his green palm touched the wall.

He flinched at the pain but then realised that there _was_ no pain. He had flinched at the expectance of pain. He whipped his head around, his two tendrils thrashing in the opposite direction of his head movement. "The electricity... its off!"

Rubit smiled at this as the Cloubits collected their weapons and began setting up more logs. He looked back as if sensing something. "Not a moment too soon." He said.

"What? What is it?" Kisto asked approaching him.

"They're here," Rubit said. "The other _inhabitants_."

Kisto looked out, expecting to see more Cloubits and he did. But the number of Cloubits was not as terrifying as the number of other _things. The other things_ in question was an army of monster worms that he had seen Zack kill not so long ago. There were so many of them that most of them were not ridden by a Cloubit warrior.

Kisot could only stand still as the monsters went around him and easily scaled up the prison wall.

/

The Clobit inside the prison was shooting at the door where there were a few guards shooting back at it. Buck appeared and also added his gunfire, assisting him. The Cloubti looked at him and Zack with relief.

"We need to finish this quickly before more reinforcements come!" Zack said. "Cover me!"

"What? Zack wait..." Buck did not get a chance as Zack charged with a war cry. Buck sighed and also charged at the men followed by the Cloubit warror.

[L]


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Most of the prison guards were dead. Buck knew that it was mostly due to Zacks fearless and ferocious attack that took most of them by surprise. Even with the odds against them, Zack was able to cut many of them down. The Cloubit also took out a fair share of the guards with a spear in one hand and a blaster in the other. During the fight, Buck began feeling like he was the only one who had not gone berserk but he did his part by shooting down anyone who had gotten into their blindspots.

At the end of the skirmish, it was clear that the rebels were the victors. One of the last remaining guards was crawling away from Zack who approached him with his lightsaber carving a line along the ground and a cold expression on his face.

"Please... please, don't kill me." The man begged, raising a hand as he fearfully tried to slide back. "I'll tell you anything you want."

"How do we free the prisoners?" Zack said, still approaching the fleeing man.

"You need to go to their prison lock pads..." The man began.

"All of them... at once..." Zack added.

A look of fear and recognition passed his face as he realised what they wanted to do. "You... You need to go to the control room. The switch board at the forefront on the left is the one that controls the cells."

"Any guards?" Zack asked.

The man nodded, "Yes and a few personnel."

"Nothing a grenade or two won't clear out." Zack said glancing at Buck. "Thank you for your service." He said raising his lightsaber.

"Wait, I told you everything!" The man said. "You said you wouldn't kill me if I told you!"

"I never said that!" Zack said, before bring the lightsaber onto the man's face, ending his life.

Buck wanted to complain about Zack's actions but considering he had just killed a few guards himself, he felt like he would seem like a hypocryt if he did. But that did not stop a feeling of unease at seeing Zack dispose of a defenceless man.

"Let's get to the control room." Zack said, with his eyes hooded in darkness.

Buck could have sworn that he saw a flicker of yellow light in them.

/

Saza stepped into the control room, followed by some of her men. Amongst those men were Kisto.

"Warden, the electricity of the outside wall has been turned off." A woman in the control room said, looking at the instruments in front of her.

"Yes and we haven't heard from the guards that investigated the distress call in the engine room." Another said.

The warden was about to say something but Saza spoke over him. "There was a distress call in the engine room and then the electrified wall loses power." Saza said. "Doesn't sound like a coincidence to me, Warden."

"Yes, obviously this has been well planned." The Warden bitterly remarked.

"Sir, we're... we're getting reports that the guards outside are being attacked!"

"What?" The warden said in surprise. "Bloody Rebels!"

Canoe now knew it was true. The rebels had come and Buck was most likely going to be with them.

"Sir, it's... it's not the Rebels who are reported to be attacking." The man continued.

"Than who is it, man?" The Warden snapped.

"It's the natives of this land."

The Warden looked pleadingly at Saza. "Inquisitor Ripper, please assist us to fend this attack off."

"Of course, Warden." Saza said. "That is after all why I am here, to cover your incompetencies." Saza turned to her men. "Major Pado, I need you to take most of the men outside. Make sure whatever is attacking the prison is repelled. Canoe, you and the rest are coming with me to investigate the breach into the facility."

Canoe nodded, hoping that he would not see his friend.

/

Kisto looked around as the monster worms and the Cloubits scaled the wall. A Cloubit stepped beside him and made sounds that he did not understand. Before his eyes, the Cloubit grabbed a hold of one of the worms and hanged on as it speedily crawled up the wall.

"He say you climb wall with Wyrmbin." Rubit said.

"Wymbins huh?" Kisto said regarding the worms passing by him. "Well, you only live once." Kisto shrugged before grabbing a hold of one of the worms and hanged on for dear life as it slithered up the wall. On the other side, he held onto the Wyrmbin as it climbed down to the ground below where he stood on its back and drew his two handgun blasters before shooting at the guards.

The prison guards had been taken by surprise by the initital attack but in time recovered. They were now putting on a defence as they slayed most of the Wyrmbins with their multiple blaster shots. The smaller Cloubits were able to take advantage of their focus on the giant beasts and kill some of the guards.

Kisto stood on his Wyrmbin and shot out at the guards, taking many of them out. His monster worm ate most of the guards it came across. "Awww! You're a good boy aren't you my Wyrmbin." Kisto said in a baby voice. "I think I'm going to call you Lassie."

/

Buck walked into the control room, trying to look inconspicuous. A few people glanced at him, noting his dirty armour but said nor did anything as he continued walking further in. Whenever he was sure that no one was looking, he would drop a spherical ball as he made his way deeper into the room. He did this five times before shouting, "Grenade! Everyone get out!"

Everyone looked at him quietly, not believing him. That is until the explosions rang out. The people in the control room screamed as they ran for the exit in a panic. Buck ran to the control room table that controlled the cells while Zack ran into the now vacated room with the Cloubit behind him.

Buck pressed a few buttons and was able to get the cells to open. This caused a loud alarm to ring out and the air was saturated in red emergency lights. Prisoners suddenly found the energy walls that kept them bound to their grey cubes suddenly flicker out of existence.

"We did it!" Buck said as he continued to look into the computer.

"Good!" Zack said. "Why are we not leaving?" After Buck did not moving from his place.

"I'm trying to locate Ru'Bik's prison cell." Buck said as he looked through the records. "Got it!" He said before he led the way outside.

There was already a few guards waiting for them who fired on them. The group jumped behind some cover before returning fire.

"Buck, you go get Ru'Bik. We'll eliminate these guys." Zack said.

"Like I would leave you to deal with this alone!" Buck said before firing a volley of return fire and diving back behind his cover.

"Buck! You need to go and anyways, your suppose to arm the rebels remember?" Zack said. Zack could see Buck's reluctance to go. "Trust me, Trooper. I'll meet up with you later."

Buck took a moment then nodded before he left. Zack threw a smoke bomb and he and the Cloubit charged into the fray.

/

The prison halls were becoming chaotic. The few guards that were left inside and were not dealing with the Cloubits' attack were trying to control the prisoners but to no avail as they were being loud and uncororative. Buck ran through the halls with a holo-disk in his hand, trying to identify any rebels. He switched from face to face but Ekadi prison was a big place and the belief that he would stumble upon any Rebels on his way to Ru' Bik's cell was shrinking.

He finally stopped and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Rebels of Ekadi!" The multitude of prisoners and any near by guards swiveled their eyes to him. "This is a prison break!" Buck said taking off his backpack and placing it in front of him and reaching into it. "Arm yourselves and escape!" He shouted before throwing most of the bag's contents into the air.

Guns splattered on the floor. Then a true prison riot began. Prisoners scrambled for the weapons while most began to overpower the few guards that were there. Buck found himself running through the chaos, avoiding both prisoner and guard on his way to Ru' Bik's position.

He got to the upper floors where his cell was and rounded a corner before he stopped in his tracks. Ru Bik's cell was now in front of him and he could see the Vultan lying on the prison floor looking at the open door weaky.

In between Ru Bik and his freedom stood a slender female human with ginger hair and an inactivated Inquisitor lighsaber in her hand.

She looked up at Buck with a disarming but sinister smile. "Awe, you're not the one I wanted to see. I was hoping that Canoe would get to kill you but I guess I'll have to do it myself." Saza said before a menacing blade of red energy erupted from her lightsaber.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Kisto was shooting out at the prison guards and the few Stormtroopers who had made an impromptu defence. The element of surprise was surely gone now and the battle lay undecided. His Wyrmbin, Lassie, charged on and gobbled up anyone unlucky enough to find themselves near it.

The green Twi'Lek gritted his teeth when he saw that the Stormtroopers had created a barricade of gunmen that shot down anything that got close. Kiso reached behind him and produced a grenade. "Lassie, can you charge at them?" Kisto asked the bulbous white worm beneath him. Kisto shook his head, _of course it can't understand me._ He thought to himself.

To his surprise the Wyrmbin charged at the assembled Stromtroopers. Recovering from his surprise, Kisto began shooting at the barricade of blocking Stormtroopers. Using the element of surprise and the fear they felt at seeing the Wyrmbin charging at them, Kisto was able to take some of them out. However the men in white armour were able toshoot Lassie, causing it to reer up and throw its Twi'Lek passenger off. Kisto landed on his back with an "Oof" and was forced to watch as his Wyrmbin bravely conitnued charging ahead. The Stromtroopers shot at Lassie as it screamed in pain and finally it rolled over onto its side and went still.

Kiso bit back a moan of heartache. He looked at the distance Lassie had gotten before it fell and summazed that from where the Wyrmbid was, the distance to the Stormtroopers was a grenade throw away. Kisto ran forward, making sure to keep low and behind the length of Lassie's fallen body so that the Stormtroopers did not see him coming. When he got to the body he peeked over it and threw a grenade.

The grenade soared through the air, bounced twice before landing next to the feet of a Stormtrooper. The Stormtrooper looked down at the grey sphere and shouted, "Grenade!" The Stromtroopers dived in different directions as the bomb went off.

Kisto took the opportunity to jump over Lassie's body and finish off any remaining Stormtroopers. The Cloubits also saw the opening and also took advantage by helping him finish off the Stormtroopers with well aimed spears and Wyrmbids.

Kisto got into the facility and ran to the engine room. He produced four bombs from his back, activated them and threw them in the engine room. He ran away before a multitude of explosions sounded out, destroying the engine room and depraving the facility of power.

The blearing alarm went silent and some parts of the prison was engulfed in darkness as the generators tried to take over. The first part was done, now Kisto ahd to locate Buck, Zack and any of his Rebel brethren and escape.

/

Zack cut down two more guards with his Cloubit companion. They then proceeded to race out into the rest of the prison, which had degraded into anarchy. The prisoners were fighting back against the guards and it was becoming obvious that the guards would soon lose.

He saw a tide of red small bodies entering the fray and taking out a chunk of the guards. This was followed by white giant worms, which were seemingly being commanded by the Cloubits. The Cloubit next to him raised a spear as it excitedly shouted. It looked at Zack and said something.

Zack did not need to know the language to tell ti wanted to join its brothers and sisters in battle. He nodded to t and it bowed before running to the main battle. Zack decided to head for where Buck was in hopes of helping him.

/

The prison warden was gathering his remaining men in an effort to launch one last ditch defence. "Arm yourselves!" He shouted to the assembled personnel who were currently picking out blasters. "These prisoners and savages are not taking Ekadi! We shall show them the power of the Empire!"

"Sir?" One of his subordinates said. "Where is Inquisitor Ripper? Shouldn't she be helping us."

"Her?" The warden sneered. "She's too busy pursuing personal endeavours to to be of any help. We're on our own but be assured, the Emporer will hear about her conduct!"

/

The alarms went silent and the room was engulfed in darkness. The only light came from a red shaft of light coming from a device held in Inquisitor Saza Ripper's hands. Buck Johnson stood in place, thinking of ways he could take advantage of the darkness. But then, the lights came on, first in white before shifting to a red hue.

"I can feel it." Saza said, licking her lips. "Your hate is radiating off of you in waves."

Buck kept quiet as he watched her circle him. He was determined to succeed where Zack had failed.

"Didn't your Jedi friend tell you never to fight a darkside user with hate in your heart?" Saza said as the lights shifted to a white colour again. "But I don't understand why the hate is directed at me. You both are the ones who failed to protect your lady friend."

Buck raised his rifle blaster in a flash and released a volley of shots. Saza parried the shots as she ran towards him. Buck stood in place as he continued to release his parry of shots only to have them reflected away from their target. Saza redirected a shot back to him and it hit his rifle, causing it to explode in a shower of white sparks.

Buck unholstered his pistol just as Saza swung down towards his head with her lightsaber. He dived to the side, narrowly dodging the red blade. The lights shifted back to a red colour as he got to his feet and let out a few more shots. Saza easily defended against them and kicked out at his hand, knocking the weapon away from his grip.

Buck found himself dodging another deadly lightsaber swing as the blade rend in the air behind it in red. He produced a round sphere from his back and threw it at her. Saza called out to the Force and used it to telekinetically grab the sphere in mid air before pushing it back to him. Buck dove out of the way as the stun grenade went off. He was out of most of its field but his legs got caught in its blue, buzzing energy dome.

He fell on his face and when he tried to get back up, fell down again. His legs had become numb from the effects of the stun grenade. Saza began walking to him, like a spider approaching a fly caught in its web. "You do realise that you never stood a chance, right?"

The ights flickered back into white, washing the room in the bright colour. Buck gritted his teeth under his helmet as he tried to will his legs to move. He produced another sphere from behind him and sent it rolling out in between them. The sphere exploded before Saza could do anything about it and a black cloud of smoke engulfed them both. Saza kept walking and visciously swung down to where Buck was... or had been as her blade struck the ground.

"You are quiet resourceful." Saza said between coughs caused by inhaling the black smoke around her. She could not see anything other than her lighsaber blade in the black smoke but she did not need to see anything _with her eyes_. "You would have made a wonderful Stormtrooper commander."

The lights changed colour again and became red. Buck saw this as an advantage as it would help conceal him. Unlike his enemy, he did not have a bright glowing weapon, so he was sure he could not be tracked. Slowly he came up behind her and when he was close enough charged. At the last second, Saza turned around, leading with her lightsaber and by only dropping to his knees and sliding through, did Buck avoid getting decapitated. Saza swung the blade over her head and brought it down to where Buck had stopped and instead of meeting flesh and bone, her blade hit the ground again.

"I can sense you, you idiot." Saza sneered into the black smoke. Buck took off his helmet and held his breath so that he did not breath in the smoke and give away his position by coughing. He now knew that she was using the Force to pinpoint his exact position but maybe he could, make her doubt her abilities. He threw his helmet...

"Unlike you I don't need..." Saza heard a sound at her side and turned to face the source of the noise before she _felt_ him behind her, forcing her to turn around again but it was too late as Buck delivered a kick to her side.

"Don't you ever shut up?!" Buck shouted as his kick connected with her lightsaber was knocked away and out of the smoke cloud. Buck charged her and tackled Saza out of the smoke cloud before landing on top of her. He brought his hands around her neck and began squeezing the life out of the Inquisitor.

Saza fought desperately but could not get his determined grip from her throat. She looked around urgently for her lightsaber but it was no where to be seen. However, there was a weapon that she could see... Buck's pistol.

Thrusting her hand out, she made the pistol slide towards her using her fingers in a beckoning motion. The pistol slid towards her then stopped, then slid again only to stop. Buck noticed that the weapon was getting closer to her outstretched hand and doubled his efforts by squeezing her slender neck harder. Veins began popping out of her face and her eyes became red and watery but she remained steadfast in her task and beckoned the weapon towards her. The weapon finally flew into her waiting hand, forcing Buck to relinquish his hold and roll out of the way as she fired above her at where his head used to be.

Saza had to cough as she took grateful gulps of air. As soon as she could focus she looked for Buck who had run over to the only other weapon in proximity... Saza's lightsaber. He picked up the weapon that was foreign to him and prodded along its length. It was black and had a curve structure that was like a hand guard. He found a button and pressed it, causing a blade to leap out, only on the wrong side. He had to jump back in order to avoid getting his legs stabbed by the sudden appearance of the red laser blade.

Saza began to snicker at this and soon was cackling in mad laughter as she shot at Buck with the pistol. Buck ran for cover as the badly aimed shots burned the ground near his feet and sped past his head. He was able to get into a cell that protected him from the shots. Soon the shots stopped and he heard the sound of a trigger pulling but no more shots coming out.

 _The battery has run out,_ he excitedly thought to himself. The lights switched back to a white colour. Buck looked at the lightsaber hilt in his hands and turned it around. He activated it and a red blade appeared on the right side this time. After a few breathes, he ran out of the cell and charged at Saza with a fearsome war cry. Saza discarded the pistol and widened her stance to stand ready.

When he was close enough, Buck leapt into the air, with the lightsaber raised above his head, ready for a down swing. Saza thrust her hands out as claws and Buck found himself suspended in the air as his momentum was brought to a hault through the mechanics of the Force. In a moment of terror, he looked down at her crazed face, which was breathing shallow breaths through clenched foaming teeth. At that moment, Saza looked more psychotic than beautiful. She swung her hands to the side, sending Buck hurtling into the same directions, where his spine crashed into the edge of Ru' Bik's cells and his body flipped over the Vultan's head.

The lightsaber was dropped near the cell opening and Saza called to it, making it leap into her hand, where she felt it belonged.

"Ru-Ru'Bik." Buck said as he forced himself to his feet. Ru' Bik looked at the human. "I will... protect you!" Buck said as he stepped in front of Ru'Bik protectively and faced Saza.

Saza giggled to herself before activating her lighsaber. "Come now, Johnson. There is no galaxy where you win this fight while I have my weapon and you have nothing."

Buck raised his fists defiantly and widened his stance into the basic fighting stance he was taught as a Stormtrooper. He was tired and he knew that he would most likely lose but he refused to back down.

She giggled again, covering her face in her hands before looking up to reveal that the psychotic look had returned to her face. "You're a joke!" She angrily spat before she made her advance.

"Buck!" A voice rang out, stopping her in her tracks and her face returned to normal as she looked to her side and saw Zack waiting there with his green lightsaber in hand.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

"Ahhh, you're the one I've been waiting for." Saza said, smiling at Zack who walked closer to them.

Zack's eyes glanced at Ru'Bik who was on his knees in the prison cell, behind Buck. "Buck, take him and leave. I'll deal with her."

"Oh he can go." Saza said, waving their existence away as if they were an annoying fly. "I doubt they'll escape this place and Ru'Bik is a pretty useless prisoner at this point."

Buck helped Ru'Bik to his feet. The shorter Vulatn placed his arm around Buck as they walked away from his cell. Buck got to his helmet and carefully picked it up so as not to cause Ru'Bik any discomfort before passing by Zack.

"Zack, be careful." Buck said, stopping beside him.

Zack nodded. "Get to the ship and I'll join you after I'm done here."

Buck nodded before walking on. The former trooper glanced back and saw Saza's calm and serine face. The image of the look she had when she was about to kill him trickled into his mind. He gulped nervously and prayed that she died on this day. He continued on leaving them alone.

/

Kisto entered the prison and saw its various occupants.

"Kisto?" The green Twi'lek heard someone say behind him. Kisto turned around and saw a green Rodan looking at him. "What are you doing here? Were you caught?" The Rodan said playfully, punching Kisto in the arm.

"No, I'm not stupid enough to get caught." Kisot jokingly said. "I'm the one breaking you guys out."

"What?" The Rodan said in disbelief. "Your right, you're not stupid. You're worse."

"You're not armed? That's disappointing." Kisto said, wondering if Buck or Zack were still alive as they had failed to arm the rebels like he asked.

"All the rebels here are stealing the guards' weapons." The Rodan said. "We're planning on storming the ship hangar. There are two large ships that will be more than enough for all of us to escape with."

"Hijack a ship, huh?" Kisto said. "That sounds beter than the plan I had." He looked around at the chaotic battle happening around them. "Look, I'm going to need one of those for me only."

"Don't be greedy you Twi'Lek dog!" The Rodan said with a smile. "You can't haver a ship all to yourself."

"It's not like that." Kisto said. "You see these small red beings? They're my friends. I promised them I would help take down Ekadi and I'm thinking of actually keeping my promise."

The Rodan nodded in understanding. "Why do you need another ship for?" The Rodan asked suspiciously.

"Remeber what I did on Kaller?" Kisot said with a sly smile.

"You're planning to... Okay now I know you are worse than stupid." The Rodan said. "But we'll help you anyway we can."

"Good Rodan!" Kisto said patting his old friend in the back. "I'll just have to call a droid about bringing my ship here before we start." Kisto said taking out his communicator.

/

"Mmmm, unlike your friend you have a mixture of hate and rage coming off you." Saza said as she and Zack circled each other.

"I don't care what you have to say witch!" Zack snapped. "I just want to see your head roll of off your shoulders!" Zack said before charging forward. Their blades met and Saza was pushed back. Zack pressed on aggressively, forcing Saza to constantly step back and block to avoid getting sliced to ribbons.

She jumped back and stopped at the foot of a cell opening. She glanced back, fearing geting cornered in the cell. That gave her an idea as she held her lightsaber out in a one handed Makashi style and waited for Zack's next attack. Zack lunged forward and their lightsabers met and parried. Through careful footwork and lghtsaber technique, Saza was able to manuver herself around Zack and him into the cell.

She used her superior skill to drive him deeper into the cell and closer to his doom. Zack relaised that soon he would be trapped and his Ateru style would be impeded in a closed space such as the cell. In the dark prison cell, their green and red lightsabers met and disconnected only to be forced together again. Zack was dangerously losing ground with each lightsaber exchange.

Saza was able to parry Zack's lightsaber blade away before punching him in the face with the curve from her lightsaber hilt that covered her hand. Zack stumbled back before his back hit the wall. There was no more ground to be given; he had to escape or face certain death. Zack felt the Force welling up deep inside him and he thrust it out in a wave force attack.

Saza raised her hand to defend herself against the invisible attack. Her feet slid back a distance under the starin of trying to stave off the attack. Zack groaned as he walked forward while his hand was thrust out in a commanding gesture of the force.

"That's it... give in... to... your passion, boy." Saza said through clenched teeth while trying to hold back the Force powered attack. "It will... make you stronger!"

When Zack got close enough he unleash a flurry of desperate attacks until he could take a gap out of the cell. He had to dodge a downward strike to his body while escaping but he was able to retreat to a safe distance. Saza smiled at him, which only fuelled his anger.

"Aw, it looks like I can't hold back this time." She said before running at him. Zack charged at her, refusing to back down.

/

Buck looked at Ru'Bik who he was supporting. Now that he was in full light he could see the Vultan properly. His eyes were sunken in and looked sorrow filled; he was deathly thin and he did not seem to acknowldedge the world around him.

"Ru'Bik? Are-Are you okay?" Buck asked.

Ru'Bik looked up at Buck's face. The Vultan narrowed his eyes at the man. "I know you, don't I?"

Buck but his lip. How could he not remember him? Buck was the man who killed his wife; who was entrusted to deliver his baby girl to safety; who failed to keep him out of the clutches of the Empire. _What had they done to him?_ Buck found himself asking.

"I-I met you on the day you were captured." Buck said, struggling for words. "To be honest we met way before that but..."

"You," Ru'Bik weakly said grasping Buck by the collar and forcing him to a hault. "You had my baby daughter. Where is she? Is she alive?"

For moment Buck saw a flash of Ru'Bik in this husk of the Vultan before him. If anything could help bring back the man he knew it was knowledge of his daughter's survival. "Your daughter is alive, Ru'Bik. She is with your brother. You need to fight, be strong so that you can see her again. You need to live for..." There was the sound of a blaster fire and Buck's eyes went wide as Ru'Bik went a little limp in his arms.

He looked back and saw the Warden pointing a smoking pistol at his direcion and he was flanked by his men. "That is Buck Johnson, the traitor!" The warden said before releasing a few more shots.

Buck grabbed Ru'Bik and dived behind a protruding section of the wall. He placed Ru'Bik against the wall while eh reached his holster only to be met by emptyiness instead of the handle of the pistol he had left behind during his battle with the Inquisitor. He looked at Ru'Bik and saw the wound in is abdomen, a result of being shot in the back by the warden.

"Ru'Bik, you're-you're going to be okay." Buck trired to assure him.

The Vultan shook his head, knowing he was not. He gave a weka smile, with teeth stained in his own blood. "Who are you? Why did you... do this?"

Tears began shining in Buck's eyes as he saw the man he came to save die. "I-My name is Buck Johnson. You might not remember me but I come from the planet Vicon, a mining planet."

"Vicon," Ru'Bik smiled in rememberance. "Filled with good... people who... inherited a bad... land."

"Yes, you helped us." Buck said trying to keep the tears from rolling down his face. "And in return I arrested you."

"And in... return you saved... me." Ru'Bik said. "Like I said... filled with... good people. Check on my daughter once... once in a while. I now go to be with my wife." Ru'Bik's eyes closed for the final time.

Buck wiped away his tears and put on his Stromtrooper helmet. The Warden and some of his men were still firig at him. And soon, his meagre cover would be blown open and so would he.

/

The guards and prison personel were trying to get into one of the huge ships when the freed Rebel prisoners and a few Cloubits burst into the hangar room. There was a short intense fire fight that forced all the unarmed personel to escape in smaller ships, leaving the bigger ones. The unlucky ones were soon gunned down by the escaping prisoners.

"Alright, get any rebel and anyone who wants out in there and guard that no one enteres the other ship." Kisto commanded.

Kisto enterred the bigger ship and closed the door behind him. He went to the control room, which was built for a small group of people to fly. He knew he could get it off the ground but not far after that. For what he was planning, that was all he needed.

He firedd the ship up and waited for the other, carrying his rebel friends, to do the same. The other ship released a green bolt into the hangar door and blew it open before it flew out. Kisto followed. While the other ship flew away into space, Kisot angled his ship up, and flew it straight up into the night starry sky, with Ekadi prison below his steadily rising ship.

/

Buck was in a truly desperate situation. He knew that soon he would be shot up. The only reasoned he guessed the warden had not sormed to his postion and shot him point blank was because they assumed he was armed. He made his body as small as possible as he waited for the enevitable.

He suddenly heard a loud buzzing sound and an end to the blaster shots. He hazarded a look and saw a Stormtrooper in familiar armour standing before an unconscious group of people who a few seconds ago, were shooting at him.

"Canoe?" Buck said.

Canoe pointed his rifle blaster at Buck. "You know I get a promotion if I kill you?"

"Good thing you don't care about that kind of stuff, huh?" Buck said getting to his feet and slowly raising his hands.

"Says who?" Canoe said. "Unlike you, I'm a career man. But I guess I can't kill my friend just for more money." Canoe said, lowering his blaster. "So, were you able to save him?"

Buck looked sadly at the body behind him. Canoe saw and understood.

"Buck, I'm s..."

Buck raised his hand. "It's okay. My friend is in trouble, are you willing to help us?"

"If I can help without being seen," Canoe said, "than yes."

/

The ship Kisto was piloting got to its maximum help height without a full crew and began falling downwards towards the prison, and with Kisto's help towards Ekadi. Kisto rushed to the communication section of the big control room.

"Attention. Attention all people in Ekadi prison at this moment." Kisto's voice sounded throught out the prison. "As we speak I, Kisto the Rebel, am currently flying a ship into the prison facility." Kisto said. "If you value your life, I suggest you leave, for I am going to destroy this tower of evil and Empire supremisy." The last part was added to inform the Cloubits that he was doing this to help them. "I suspect you have a few standard minutes before this ship destroys Ekadi. Kisto out!"

Kisto returned to the controls as he the ship slowly re-entered the red atmosphere.

/

Rubit, who had joined the fight inside the prison heard Kisto's words of warning. He sent out the call for the surving members of his race to vacate the prison facility before it was too late. They all caught a ride on a few Wyrmbins and began vacating the doomed building.

/

Buck took out his communicator and conatced Kisto. "Kisto! What the heck? What's this about you crashing a ship into Ekadi while Zack and I are still in it?" Buck shouted. Canoe looked at him and Buck added, "me, Zack and some of our other friends I mean."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Kisto said. "It was a sort of spur of the moment thing. I've already called my droid, he'll be waiting for you guys on the roof of the prison. I suggest you and Zack... and anyone else with you get there immediately."

"I'm going to get Zack now." Buck said running down the hall towards Zack's position. "Tell your droid not to leave us, no matter what!"

"Buck, I think we should leave now." Canoe said, getting worried about the ship heading for them.

"We will, just let me do this please." Buck said.

Buck looked to the distance, hoping that Zack had killed off Saza so that they could leave immediatly.

/

Zack and Saza had stopped their battle momentarily to listen to Kisto's message of warning.

"You heard him." Saza said. "Are you willing to give up now and live?"

"If I don't kill you before that ship comes, then I'm afraid this is where we'll both die." Zack said taking a ready position.

"Or I could kill you first and then escape."

They charged at each other and their blades met in a flurry of exchanges. Saza aimed the other side of her ligtsaber at Zack and another blade shot out towards his head. Zack used his own blade to block it and push it to the side before striking at her. Saza was surprised by this move and jumped back while parrying his strike to avoid a critical hit on her body. He gave her no room to breath and fearlessly pushed forward while she fought with her double sided lightsaber.

She was able to create some distance between them before she leapt back with her lightsaber spinning like helicopter propellers, helping her get further away from him. Zack was taken back by this move as he did not know that she could use her lightsaber that way.

Saza smiled at his surprised face. "You're not the only one with tricks under his sleeve. Watch!" She said before throwing her rapidly spinning ligtsaber at him. Zack was even more surpised by this attack. He raised his own blade up to block and the spinning lightsaber nicked the back of his shoulder, illiciting a groan of pain from him.

Saza ran toward him but because she was unarmed he raised his lightsaber ready to strike her down as he ignoring the pain in his wounded shoulder. He heard a familiar hum coming from behind him and blocked behind him just as the boomeranging lightsaber tried to cut his body in half. The lightsaber passed him and landed in Saza's hands where she deactivated one blade and fought with the remaining.

Zack was forced to go on the defensive as Saza pushed forward into him. He was able to jump back and in seconds was charging at her again with furious blows aimed at her head. Saza was forced back as she parried. Zack angled a slash to her unprotected legs. Instead of bringing her lightsaber down, Saza raised it up and activated it the other blade again before creating the helicopter effect to fly up and out of the way of his low swing.

Saza deactivated the helicopter function and dropped down with her single lightsaber blade over her head. She brought it down in a red arcing swing, forcing Zack to roll to his side to avoid getting split down the middle. Zack focused on some exposed pipes. He detached them from the wall using Force-powered telelikineses and launc hed them at Saza. Saza released the other blade and made her lightsaber spin again, creating a shield of red that protected her from the incoming projectiles. The pipes were shredded, leaving her unharmed.

Zack charged at her while throwing a force wave at her. She was able to block it through great concentration which left her open for a second to the oncoming Zack. Zack did a samusault and struck down at her and to his surpise she blocked him and disarmed him of his weapon. She struck at his leg, bringing him to his knee and before he could blink, her red blade was inches from his neck.

"Something tells me that was your best move." Saza smiled at him. Her brow was shiny with sweat like his. They both had reached their limits and it seemed that Saza had won.

Zack gritted his teeth as he realised that he had failed. "Do it." He dared her.

"Don't be so eager to die." Saza said. "Your talented, Zack, and with the right training, on the right side, you could be powerful."

"What are you saying?" Zack said.

"Join me. I can train you to be strong." Saza said, her face midway to looking psychotic.

"You want to train me?" Zack said. "Why would I even except your training. I want to kill you!"

"I teach you to be strong and if you feel your strong enough, you can kill me... or at least try. That is the way of the darkside, that is the way of the Sith." Saza said.

"I am a Jedi!" Zack said defiantly.

Saza laughed at this. "You're part of an extinct group? And what have the Jedi given you, boy? A power so weak that you could not even use it to protect your loved ones or even avenge them?"

Zack closed his eyes and images of Lona's death came into mind.

"The Jedi lied to you. Their philosophies were all lies. There is no peace, only power." Saza continued. "You know this. You've given yourself to this knowledge, which is the only reason you lasted this long against me. You've tapped into the darkside and have seen the truth. I could teach you to harness it. And when you're strong enough, you can try and take your revenge but by then, I doubt you will want to."

Zack thought about it. In all honesty, he _had_ recently begun to believe that the Jedi were weak and their philosophies were flawed and maybe that's why they had been destroyed. He looked up into her eyes and decided that if he wanted revenge against her, he could not rely on the Jedi way. "Fine. I'll join you."

"Prove it!" Saza demanded.

Zack reached into his clothes and produced a cube. "This is the source of all my knowledge on the Jedi."

"A holocron?" Saza took it into her hands greedily. "Good, welcome my pupil." She said withdrawing her blade from his neck.

Zack got up. He looked around for his ligthsaber which had been knocked away. When he saw it he began walking toward it.

Saza guessed what he was doing. "Leave it!" She hissed. "It represents your past and weaknesses. Leave it behind!"

Zack clenched his fists. For a long time that lightsaber was his only possession. He forced himself to turn his back on it and followed Saza. She pressed a button and elevator doors opened up for them. Buck appeared around the corner and Canoe was able to hide behind that same corner while Saza's back was turned.

"Zack!" Buck called out and then when he realised that he was in an elevator with Saza he looked at him confusion. They weren't fighting and except for a limp in on leg, he was not majorly hurt, so he realised that he was going with her willingly. "Zack, what's going on?" Buck demanded as the elevator doors began closing.

The last thing Buck saw was Saza's evil smirk and Zack's dark eyes glint yellow before the elevator doors closed.

"Your friend seems to have changed sides." Canoe said, coming out of his hiding place.

"No," Buck refused to believe it. Zack would never have joined the person who killed Lona.

"Buck we need to leave now." Canoe said. "If you don't, then I'm leaving you behind."

Buck clenched his fists as he stood there in confusion. He looked to the floor and his eyes happened upon Zack's discarded lightsaber.

"Buck!" Canoe said.

Buck ran to the lightsaber and picked it up. "Alright, let's get out of here."

/

Kisto was now sure that the ship would crash into Ekadi. Now he had to get to an escape pod. He had to pull himself along the walls in order to get to the nearest escape pod. Alarms were blearing out at him, forcing him to hasten his escape.

The ship would occasionally shake and cause him to fall back but he would crawl up the walls again to the escape pod. "I should've gotten a jetpack." He said through gritted teeth.

He finally got to the doors of an escape pod and reached out with tired arms at the button that would open the door. The door slid open and he climbed over into the egg-shaped pod. He quickly punched in a few coordinates before launching the small craft from the ill-fated ship and into the safety of the stars.

He looked down as the craft was now even closer to Ekadi. "Buck, Zack, I hope you two made it out alive."

/

Buck followed Canoe who had claimed to have a fast way to the roof. They got to an elevator and with shaky hands punched in the top floor. The elevator rose unsteadly rose as alrmas rang out across the prison before it _pinged_ open at the top floor and they ran up a long case of winding stairs to the roof where a door barred their way.

Canoe tried to open the door but it was stuck. "Dammit, the door's locked shut. Must be the power outage!"

"Shoot it down!" Buck said before Canoe unloaded a small volley of fire into the door but it did not budge.

"I can't get through it!" Canoe said desperately and uselessly kicking the door.

"Don't you have any charges?" Buck asked.

Canoe shook his head no. "I can't believe this is how I'm going to die!"

Buck crumbled onto his knees. They could hear the oncoming ship that was soon going to crash into Ekadi and crush them in the process. He looked down to the object grapsed in his hands and quickly got up. "Canoe, get out of the way."

Canoe looked at him with a confused look but did as he was told. Buck held the lighsaber in front of him and activated it. A green blade leapt out of the hilt, with a green halo forming near the base of the lightsaber. Buck plunged the lightsaber into the door and began carving a hole. A round man-sized chunk of the door fell out, creating an opening for the two. Canoe crawled through the opening first, the molten metal giving him no problem due to his Stormtrooper armour. Buck did the same and they were out onto the roof. Above them was the looming ship that was getting bigger and more menacing as it got closer.

"Where's our ride out of here?" Canoe asked looking around desperalty.

"Kisto said it would be here!" Buck said over the roar of the wind, caused by the oncoming ship.

They looked around but they could not see the _Diversity_ or _Lona's Room_ anywhere.

"See? Never trust a rebel!" Canoe angrily said before the _Diversity_ showed up. It opened up its platform entrance and the two friends ran for it before jumping on. The door closed and the ship started flying away. The giant ship finally crashed into Ekadi, creating a giant explosion of fire and debris that threatened to engulf the fleeing _Diversity_ with _Lona's Room_ attached to it.

Buck rushed to the droid flying the ship in the control room. "Hey, why are we not getting away from the explosion?" He asked desperately as the feiry explosion was cathcng up to them.

"The-The ship is-si carrying too much we-wei-weight." The droid crackled and buzzed.

"The other ship!" Canoe exclaimed. "We need to detach it."

Buck kept quiet for a while. _Lona's Room_ was the only thing they had of Lona left. He felt that it would be dishonouring her if they let the ship go but if they did not, it was likely they would die.

"Buck!"

"Alright alright." Buck said as they were plaugued by a quake of the ground beneath them "Droid, detach _Lona's Room_." He reluctantly said.

The Droid pressed a button and the ship fell away to be fully engulfed by the could of pursuing fire. This gave the _Diversity_ a chance to pull away safely from the explosion and go out into space. Buck looked down through a window at the destroyed Ekadi. _At least the Cloubits would now be free of the Empire,_ he thought to himself. It was unlikely that the Empire would bother to rebuild the facility again. He looked out into the distance of space and wondered if Zack had survived.

/

Zack looked at theruined facility of Ekadi. He was sitting in the cockpit of Saza's personal space ship. They had gottent to it in time, before the facility was destroyed. He breathed in and looked out into the deep dark space. He did not know where his new journey would lead him but he knew it would make him stronger. He looked to his side at the beautiful woman piloting the ship, the woman he made an oath to kill but for now would be studying under.

He still did not fully understand her reasons for wanting to make him stronger but he knew she would one day regret it, even if it cost him his own life. But from this day on, he would no longer seek to be a Jedi.

/

A few standard hours had passed and Canoe had opted to be left on a planet that had good ties with the Empire. Buck was looking at him from his ship.

"Are you sure you want to go back to the Empire?" Buck said, worried about his firend. "It could be dangerous."

"Hey, as far as anyone knows, I'm still loyal to the Stormtroopers." Canoe said. "I can simply say I escaped the whole event."

"You could just come with me." Buck offered.

"And give up my job and paycheck? And for what? Being hunted across the galaxy. No thanks." Canoe said.

Buck smiled at this before shaking his head. " Well, regardless,Thanks for everything." Buck said.

"Although it pains me to say this but, anytime." Canoe said. "Anytime you need me, just call."

Buck nodded. "I will and same to you." He was walking back to the ship when Canoe stopped him.

"Buck wait! Could you do me a favour?" Canoe said.

"Anything." Buck walked back to to his friend.

"Give me your helmet."

Buck was confused by this but handed him over his helmet. "Why do you need it?"

Canoe aimed a pistol at its middle and shot it, createing a whole. "Proof."

"Of what?" Buck said, disturbed by what he had just done.

"That I killed you." Canoe said to his friend. "This is going to give me my next promotion." Canoe held up the helmet with a hole in it.

Buck smiled at him. "Well congradulations on your promotion."

"Congradulations on your death." Canoe said.

A silent moment of respect passed between them before they nodded and went their separate ways. Buck launched the ship, heading for where Dyna was.

/

"I don't understand, what happened to Zack?" Dyna said. She understood as Buck had explained it to her but she, like some part of Buck, did not believe it.

"He lost his way." Buck said sadly.

"Will he ever find his way again?" Dyna said getting emotional.

Buck patted her on the head gently. "I don't know. All we can do is just hope that he does." Buck said. "I think this belongs to you now." He said offering her the lightsaber Zack used to carry. She took it into her hands and Buck gave her a moment to be alone. Dyan went to her room in the _Diversity_ while the ship rumbled to take off. Her room became dark as soon as the doors whizzed closeed and the window was currently shaded so no sunlight came in.

She was not sure what to think about Zack. Had he really betrayed them? _No_ , she thougth to herself. He would come back and she was sure of it. She took the lightsaber in her hands and activated it, allowing the green light to fill the room.

"He'll come back and if he doesn't I'll bring him back." She said to herself and as she looked at the humming weapon with a green halo near the base, she knew as long as there was light there would be hope.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And... we've reached the end of this adventure. It too me some time to get this last chapter though, its just been sitting in my pc... waiting to be proof read. Tell me how how I did and thanks for reading and making it this far!

Sub Ink, signing off... for now.


End file.
